Twinkle, Little Star
by Nate Grey
Summary: Shego finds herself involved with Team Go again when Hego's daughter runs away and comes to her for help.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Shego is forced into involvement with Team Go when Hego's daughter comes to her for help.

Twinkle, Little Star

A Kim Possible Fanfic by

Nate Grey (XMAN0123-at-aol-dot-com)

5:45 AM - Possible Residence, Middleton

"Oh, not again!" Kim moaned as the familiar beeping of the Kimmunicator yanked her from yet another full night of sleep. Sighing in frustration, she snatched the blue device up. "Go, Wade," she murmured sleepily, suppressing a yawn.

"Sorry for the early wake up call, Kim, but we've got an emergency," Wade reported. "It's Shego."

Kim rolled her eyes as she got out of bed. "Oh, really? What's she done now? Robbery? Assault? Kidnapping?"

"The last one. But it's who she's kidnapped that'll knock you for a loop."

"I'm listening."

"Her own niece."

"Um...come again?" Kim asked slowly.

"Turns out Hego has a teenage daughter named Michelle. She's missing, and it's got Shego written all over it, according to him."

"I'll get dressed. Oh, and wake up Ron. No way he gets to sleep in."

9999999

5:47 AM - Doctor Drakken's Lair, Unknown (supposedly)

"Oh, DAMMIT!" Shego hissed as she tore the sheets off her bed and leaped to her feet. "Who in the green HELL puts a doorbell on a secret lair?"

Obviously, Doctor Drakken did, but that was hardly the point. What Shego REALLY wanted to know was, who would even be ringing Dr. D's doorbell so early in the morning? Didn't people know that super villains were even more likely to be murderous when you woke them up at ungodly hours? They were surprisingly like regular people in that respect.

"If it's another Avon lady or ANY kind of scout or witness, there will be blood spilled," Shego growled as she stomped her way to the door. Not even bothering to check the security monitor next to her, she yanked the door open and barked, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU-!"

The red haired, blue-eyed teenager standing there screamed in fright and thrust her hands out.

Shego got the odd impression that she would long regret this moment, just before something slammed into her gut and knocked her the length of the room, where she crashed into the wall and slumped to the floor.

"Oh no! NO! Not again! I'm so sorry!" the girl wailed, rushing over to Shego and hugging her tightly. "Please don't hate me, Auntie Shego! I didn't mean it, I swear!"

Only one word of that cleared the fog currently clouding Shego's mind. "Auntie?"

9999999

6:08 AM - Go Tower, Go City

"The matter will be taken care of. Kim Possible is on the case," Hego said confidently to his team.

Mego snorted, unconvinced, and Wego (both of them) traded confused looks.

"Is there a problem?" Hego asked.

"Um...did you tell her everything? About Michelle?" one of the twins asked.

"And why she ran away?" the other chimed in.

Hego's fist slammed into the table, making the twins jump. "Michelle did NOT run away. Our sister kidnapped her."

"Shego doesn't want anything to do with us, especially not me," Mego pointed out. "Why would she kidnap Michelle?"

"You will not call her by that name," Hego said quietly. "She is no longer a member of Team Go. She took Michelle to hurt us. She hates us. You know that."

"You can't believe that she'd do this, though. Michelle's been asking about Shego ever since-"

"OUR SISTER!" Hego roared.

"The point is, Michelle wanted to know about her," Mego snapped. "She was always asking what our sister was like. Why she left. Why we didn't keep in touch. But you wouldn't let me tell her anything, so her curiosity got the better of her. Now she's run off to try and find-"

"SHE WAS KIDNAPPED!" Hego shouted, yanking his brother out of the violet chair.

"You keep on telling yourself that, big guy," Mego muttered. "We all know the truth."

"And what is the truth, dear Mego?"

All heads turned to the doorway, where a feminine figure clad in tight-fitting dark green and black stared at them expectantly.

"That Michelle left for a reason," Mego replied, shoving Hego away from him with some difficulty.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, brother dear." The woman slowly entered the room, her pale green eyes settling briefly on each person before locking on Mego. "My baby was taken from us."

"Look, you all can ignore it as long as you want, but Michelle left on her own, and she's not coming back until she's ready."

"Hego, please refresh your brother's memory."

"Yes, dear," Hego replied as his hand shot out, wrapping around Mego's neck and jerking him off of his feet.

"Stop it!" the twins cried as Mego struggled helplessly, his face quickly turning his signature color.

The woman nodded, and Hego instantly dropped his brother.

"We are going to find Michelle," the woman said coolly, "and we are going to bring her home. Shego will pay for what she's done...with her life. Only then will Team Go be whole again. Are we in agreement?"

The Wego brothers looked at each other nervously, then at Mego, who was still trying to catch his breath.

"Yes, Galgo, we are," the two said as one.

The woman smiled pleasantly. "Excellent. Would anyone care for some lemonade?"

9999999

7:00 AM - Drakken's Lair

Shego carefully inspected what were proving to be only minor wounds from the accident, all the while keeping a close eye on the girl. She'd said her name was Michelle, but that wasn't important. She'd said she was Hego's daughter, and that, if true, was important. Mainly, it meant that Shego would have to put up with her dumb brothers yet again to deal with something she hadn't caused or asked for.

Michelle certainly looked like she could be Hego's daughter. At first glance she seemed skinny, but Shego could see the definite marks of toned muscle that came from constant athletic training. The orange and black bodysuit she wore was a dead giveaway, too. And for some reason, her eyes seemed to change color every few minutes, something Michelle was obviously aware of, since she kept looking down. It was probably some other aspect of the comet power she'd inherited from Hego. Her skin was pale, but not to the point where she seemed sickly. Her hair was bright red, cut just above the shoulder so that it seemed to frame her face perfectly.

"So," Shego said abruptly. "You have super strength, too?"

Michelle didn't look up. "Not exactly, no."

Shego frowned. "Then what? Exactly."

"I...I'm a star," Michelle said quietly.

"Very funny."

"I'm serious!" Michelle insisted, her voice trembling. "I'm a living star!"

"So what's your codename?"

Michelle looked mortified. "Please don't make me say it."

"What? Seego?" Shego snorted.

"Yes," Michelle whispered.

"Oh," Shego muttered, the laughter fading from her tone. "Oh, DAMN. You poor kid."

"It doesn't matter, since I never officially made the team, anyway. I couldn't control my powers well enough."

"You seemed pretty good from where I was laying."

Michelle shook her head. "That was just instinctive; you scared me. And if you weren't...you, the damage would've been a lot worse. It's because our powers are similar. They're both heat-based, I mean."

"Bet that really pissed off Hego, huh?" Shego asked.

"Not really. Mom's the strict one. Dad didn't mind my powers, so long as I always tried my best."

"Take it from me, kid. Sometimes your best just isn't good enough for Team Go. Why do you think I quit?"

Michelle hesitated. "I don't know. They never talk about you. Uncle Mego mentions you sometimes, but before he can go into detail, either Mom or Dad interrupts him."

Shego chuckled. "Figures. I'm the black sheep and all. They probably don't want you to turn out like I did."

"You don't seem so bad...except for the yelling," Michelle replied. "I was kind of hoping you could teach me how to better control my powers. That's part of why I came here."

"And what's the other part?"

"I just...I wanted to meet you." Michelle bit her lip. "Didn't you want to meet me all this time?"

Shego shook her head. "Kid, I don't know what they did or didn't tell you, but I didn't even know Hego COULD reproduce, let alone that he had. I guess even his super strength could stand up to a kick in the crotch."

Michelle winced. "You mean that part was true?"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Shego answered with a shrug. "I'm not in the habit of suppressing anger. Or taking in relatives, for that matter. So maybe you shouldn't get too comfortable here. Dr. D would try to put you to work, anyway."

"I can work!" Michelle said at once. "Whatever it takes. Just don't send me away. I need to know you. Please!"

Shego sighed. "Look, you seem like a nice kid, especially for being Hego's, but there's a reason I walked out on Team Go and haven't contacted them since. I want nothing to do with any of them."

"But I'm not part of Team Go. I wouldn't ask you to tell me anything that made you uncomfortable. I just want a chance to know my aunt. Aren't you at least a tiny bit curious about me?"

"Even if I was, I'm no good at the family thing."

"That's fine. Just think of me as a younger you."

Shego froze. "What?"

Michelle grinned at her. "The one thing Dad did let slip was that sometimes I reminded him of you. It made me feel closer to you."

Shego could just imagine Michelle accidentally burning something to the ground, while Hego shook his head. "Yeah, well, I don't know if you should be proud of that. You don't know me."

"Yet," Michelle added brightly, her amber eyes shining.

"All I'm saying is don't get your hopes up."

"I can't help it. You're great so far. Way better than they made me think you were, at least."

Shego wasn't sure if she should be pleased or not. "Anyway, you'd better stay in my room until I can run this past Dr. D. Otherwise he might think we had an uninvited guest."

"He doesn't want uninvited guests, but he has a doorbell?" Michelle asked with a frown. "I don't get it."

Smirking, Shego clapped Michelle on the shoulder and guided her into the hall. "Welcome to my world, kid."


	2. Chapter 2

8:04 AM - Go Tower, Go City

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Hego said calmly as he led Kim and Ron through Go Tower.

"Um...no problem," Kim said slowly. Something about Hego's behavior seemed a bit off, but in case this was how he reacted to tragedy, she didn't want to call him on it.

"So where's the rest of the Go gang?" Ron asked.

"They are...distressed, of course," Hego answered slowly. "I'm afraid they're not in the mood for talking right now. We all love Michelle dearly, you understand. My wife, Gabrielle, has agreed to speak with you." He stopped in front of a door. "This is my daughter's room. Please be mindful of the walls, as they get quite hot."

Kim and Ron traded confused looks as the door slid open, giving them their first glimpse into the life of the missing girl.

Everything about the room set off alarms in Kim's mind. The walls were made of some dark material that seemed to radiate heat, making it overwhelmingly hot inside. Aside from a few pictures, which were preserved in very thick red frames, there were no personal effects whatsoever. The room seemed more like a cell than a teenager's living space.

Movement at the far end of the room caught Kim's eye, and every muscle in her body tensed as she spotted a familiar green and black garbed figure. "Hold it right there, Shego!"

The woman paused and turned around. "I'm afraid you've made a mistake, Kim Possible," she said coolly. "I am Galgo, not Shego."

Kim blinked and glanced at Ron, only slightly satisfied to see he wore a similar expression of disbelief. "Well, it was an honest mistake. In fact, considering you look EXACTLY like Shego, I'm amazed you would dress like her, as well."

Galgo pursed her dark lips in an almost painful smile. She did look a great deal like Shego, from her pale skin to the enormous amount of black hair that spilled down her back. About the only two differences were her voice and that her costume was dark green and black, as opposed to green and black. But even those were rather subtle differences, given the overall effect. "That is your opinion. However, you are not here to judge my sense of fashion. You are here to find my daughter, are you not?"

"Should be easy, if she looks anything like you, ma'am," Ron said. "I mean, what are the odds of more than three people looking like Shego clones?"

"My wife has never been one for humor," Hego stated, an edge to his voice as he frowned at Ron.

"Really? Because she seems great at impersonations," Ron commented.

Kim cleared her throat. "So, um...Galgo. When was the last time you saw-?"

"Midnight. We check on her hourly," Galgo answered curtly. "By one she had vanished. Shego must've known her schedule somehow."

"What schedule?" Ron asked.

"My daughter lived by a daily schedule. She followed a rotating regimen of exercise, combat simulations, tutoring sessions, and leisure periods."

Ron scratched his head. "Call me crazy, but shouldn't there be a meal or two in there somewhere?"

Galgo glared at him. "Meals are included in leisure periods."

"But, um, shouldn't eating be more of a necessity than a hobby?"

"She didn't need to eat, did she?" Kim asked suddenly. "She had powers, like Hego and the others, right?"

"Meals weren't necessary, no," Galgo answered after a moment, and not without some irritation. "Michelle could function just as well without them. Her powers allowed her to be very...self-sufficient."

"How well-trained was she?" Kim asked. "If Shego attacked her, could she put up a decent fight?"

Hego shook his head. "Michelle's powers are more...raw. She has the potential to defeat Shego, but not the ability. At least, not yet."

"What are her powers, exactly?"

Hego and Galgo traded brief looks.

"That information is of a private nature," Hego replied.

Kim glared up at him. "Yeah? Well, here's how I see it. The longer Michelle is with Shego, the more chances Shego has to tell Michelle that you're the bad guys. So there's a very real possibility that I might have to fight Michelle before this gets resolved. And I am never going into a fight against a member of Team Go blind again."

"Michelle is not a member of Team-"

"She's got a Go Glow, and not only does that give her access back into Go Tower, it gives her an edge in a fight. So if you can't tell me what she can do, then I can't help you. Get someone more gullible to find her, because I'm done. Or just wait until she and Shego come back to tear this place apart. We're out of here, Ron." Kim turned and stomped out of the room.

Ron ran to catch up with her. "At least it wasn't a total waste, KP. We get a half-day of school out of it!"

Galgo watched them go, an odd smile on her lips. She barely even noticed when her husband placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I am sorry, Gabrielle. Kim Possible was a bit more cooperative the last time she was here. Should I lock down the tower to keep them here?"

"No matter, dear," Galgo replied. "She has served her purpose well enough. Let her go. I have no doubt that Miss Possible will come to see things my way. Everyone does, eventually. But you might go and take poor Mego some tea. I have a feeling his throat might still be a little sore."

* * *

10:00 AM - Drakken's Lair

"You're telling me that your brother entrusted you with his child?" Dr. Drakken asked, looking a bit doubtful.

Shego glared at him. "She's not a child; she came on her own. I already told her I don't do the family thing, and she didn't care. Now she's in my room, and she won't leave."

Dr. Drakken stared at her for a long moment, before breaking into a wide, cheesy grin. "You LIKE her!"

"I do not!" Shego shouted at once.

"Oh, let's be serious now, Shego. If you didn't want her here, you would've thrown her out, literally! The fact that she's still here proves that you like her. The next thing you know, you'll be giving her shiny quarters and sloppy cheek kisses for no reason at all!"

Shego's arm shot out with lightning speed, her fingers digging into his throat. "I am NOT, nor will I ever BE, A SLOPPY CHEEK KISSER!"

Drakken gasped and tried to pry her fingers from his throat. It proved to be a futile effort.

"She's going to stay here for a while, and I'm going to look after her. But then she's going to go, and everything will be like it was before she came. And YOU won't say a word about this even after she's gone. Are we clear?"

Nodding weakly, Drakken pointed frantically at his throat.

Shego released him and walked away. "If I catch you within ten feet of her, you'll regret it," she called over her shoulder.

Of course, Shego didn't really think Drakken was going to do anything harmful to Michelle. She was impressionable, but she didn't seem stupid, exactly. Naive, perhaps. For an almost member of Team Go, Michelle didn't seem as gullible as rest of them. But then, Shego might have been imagining that.

Maybe Drakken was right; maybe she did want Michelle around. It had been a long time since she'd felt really appreciated, and Michelle didn't appear to want all that much in return. A little attention, a little instruction on her powers, a place to stay for a few days. It wasn't that Shego minded providing these things, so much as she was afraid of doing so. The more time she spent with Michelle, the more likely she really would become attached to the girl. There were so many reasons why that was a bad idea, the main one being that Michelle would return to her family someday, and when she did, this would all end badly. Either Shego wouldn't want her to go, or Michelle would want Shego to come with her. Someone was going to be disappointed, and Shego didn't want it to be her. The best thing to do was just kick Michelle out now and avoid all that trouble.

Yet as she reached the door to her room, Shego knew she couldn't abandon the girl. She remembered what life was like, before she had fully understood her powers. If Michelle was being even partially honest about her powers, she was a lot more dangerous than Shego had been at that age. On the other hand, she didn't seem anywhere near as angry as Shego had been at the time, so that was a plus. But she'd only known Michelle for a couple of hours, and hadn't really had time to upset her yet.

Suddenly, the door flew open, and Michelle was grinning at her. Shego was about to speak, until she noticed that Michelle was wearing her clothes. More specifically, her signature green and black uniform. That it seemed to fit the girl perfectly was not lost on her.

"What do you think?" Michelle asked eagerly.

"I think it's time to set some ground rules. No more wearing my clothes." Shego paused. "How did you know I was out here?"

"I sensed you," Michelle replied, twirling a bit as she crossed the room. "You probably never thought about it, but us Team Go types give off unique variations of what's basically the same energy. Now that I've gotten used to yours, I can sort of feel it coming. Like radar, I guess. So you can never sneak up on me, unless I'm unconscious or really spaced out."

"Next rule. Explain, with lots of detail, what all being a star includes."

"That's less a rule and more a very long list," Michelle pointed out. "You might want to sit first."

"I'll stand. You sit. My room, my rules."

Michelle nodded. "You like being in charge, don't you? Is that why you left?"

Shego frowned at her. "Later. Talk."

* * *

12:15 PM - Middleton High School Cafeteria

"Wade told me about your field trip. So how'd it go with Team Go?" Monique asked casually.

Kim frowned as she poked at her carrots. "Total shutout. You'd think when someone goes missing, they'd offer up everything they knew. Instead, they'd rather be tightlipped about her powers and let her stay missing even longer. It's not like Wade couldn't figure out where Drakken was in two minutes tops if he had to, but the fact that they won't tell us more about Michelle makes me think she's very dangerous, whether Shego's influenced her or not."

"Does that mean we're just going to let her stay kidnapped?" Ron questioned, stuffing a particularly large piece of chocolate cake in his mouth and gulping it down.

"I'm starting to think she wasn't kidnapped, Ron. Have you ever met a teenage girl that lived by a schedule her parents made for her? And that room, it's like she was a prisoner in her own home! I'd bet anything she ran away, and Galgo just didn't want to say so."

Ron shuddered. "That woman seriously gave me the creeps. She was a total Shego clone!"

"I thought you said they didn't like Shego, Kim?" Monique asked.

Kim shook her head. "They didn't get along with her, but now they seem dead set against her, and that's what was so weird about it. How could they hate Shego when Hego is practically married to her clone?"

Monique made a disgusted face. "Whoa. CTTM."

Ron blinked in confusion, and looked to Kim for help.

"Creepy to the max," Kim translated.

"Oh. I told you that guy had issues, KP!" Ron chimed in. "First rejecting the naco, and now technical incest! The dude is sick and wrong!"

"He seemed pretty off, but I'm more worried about Galgo. It seemed like she was in control. And we never did find out what her power was, either."

"Giving off totally creepy vibes has my vote."

Monique cleared her throat. "But you're not really going to stop looking for the girl, are you? Whether she left on her own or Shego took her, she's still missing. And if she did run away, she might need shelter at the very least."

Kim sighed. "I guess you're right, Mon. But I hate going into a sitch without knowing what I'm dealing with. It tends to backfire in the worst ways."

"Can't argue there," Ron added. "We ever tell you about the time we accidentally busted up a supposed smuggling ring, only to find out it was a toy drive for charity? Reeeally awkward."

Kim smirked. "Yeah, especially when you punted that kid."

"Hey, I thought he was a midget, and he was reaching for a concealed weapon!"

"Ron, for the last time, IT WAS AN INHALER."

"You know I couldn't take that chance, KP! What if he'd aimed at you?"

"Right, I'm sure it would take Kim months to recover from a good misting," Monique chuckled, before she and Kim collapsed into giggles.

Ron glared at them. "Yeah, you laugh now! But the next time a midget corners you, you'll be thanking me for...WOULD YOU TWO STOP LAUGHING ALREADY?"

* * *

6:00 PM - Drakken's Lair

It had taken most of the morning, but Michelle had explained everything about her powers. At least, it seemed like everything to Shego, as it had taken most of the day for her to wrap her mind around. Since she hadn't planned on sleeping, she'd let Michelle use her bed.

Being a star sounded like rough business, to say the least. For one thing, Michelle had to regularly absorb and release enormous amounts of heat. She apparently spent all of her free time sunbathing, and on cloudy days, she stayed in her room, where there were wall-to-wall heaters on full blast. On the plus side, she didn't need to eat, so long as she was sufficiently heated.

Michelle seemed to have adjusted well enough, though; she thought of her powers as a gift, albeit one she couldn't fully control. Her main problem was that while she could convert her body into a form that was, for all intents and purpose, an actual star, she had little or no control over what she did after that point. The last time she'd destroyed a good portion of Go Tower, and they'd had to blame it on some random villain, who was more than happy to take credit for wounding Team Go in any way.

What Michelle could control were focused heat blasts (which she'd used on Shego earlier) and converting parts of her body to a glowing, gaseous form.

Shego had figured out pretty quickly that she wouldn't be able to help Michelle too much in the way of instruction. Their powers were similar, but Michelle's were on another level entirely. But even if she told Michelle that, Shego had a feeling that the girl would still want to stay. She had come here in search of something that Team Go either wouldn't or couldn't give her: acceptance. Maybe because Shego had no real expectations of Michelle, she could accept the girl exactly as she was.

There were some things she could still teach Michelle, however. Team Go would no doubt be looking for her, and the least Shego could do was make sure the girl knew how to make it harder on them. Clearly, Michelle already knew a thing or two about destruction, but there was always room for some fine tuning. The hard part was going to be in convincing Michelle that blowing up things could prove useful, as she had definitely inherited Hego's heroic sense of justice.

Ethics, however, would turn out to be the least of Shego's difficulties in handling her niece. Because when she returned to her room to check on Michelle, the slim teenager she'd offered her bed to was nowhere to be found.

And while the facts weren't in yet, Shego had a pretty good feeling that the tiny, red-haired six year-old currently sleeping in her bed had the answers she was looking for.


	3. Chapter 3

3:42 AM - The Possible Home, Middleton

The street was flooded with overwhelming darkness, lit up occasionally by bursts of bright green plasma and random explosions.

Kim stood just in front of her house, staring down the oncoming destruction. A few feet behind her, her family stood rooted to the spot in fear. In truth, they were probably safer out here. It would only take one blast from Shego's hands to set the whole house ablaze.

"Oh, Miss Doctor Possible!" Shego's voice rang out, a singsong quality to it. "Can Kimmie come out and play?"

The question was barely done when a streak of green roared out of the darkness, impacting at Kim's feet and sending her rolling for cover. There was no place to hide, though. The darkness seemed to spread every second, and even now, Kim had lost track of her family. But she didn't have time to debate whether or not she should search for them, as a powerful hand seized her shoulder.

"Tag," Shego whispered in her ear. "You're It, Princess."

Not even bothering to turn around, Kim aimed a kick at where she expected Shego's stomach to be. However, Shego was ready for it, and caught her ankle ahead of time, easily forcing Kim to the ground, now that her balance had been compromised.

"Don't feel bad, Kimmie. We'll still play with you, even if you're not so good at hiding. Won't we, Michelle?"

Kim gasped as a footfall sounded right next to her ear. It was now so dark that she couldn't make out anything. She only had a moment to wonder if this surrounding darkness was part of Michelle's Go Glow.

Suddenly, a pale face emerged from the darkness, grinning unnaturally wide, and a hand that seemed to be pouring out black smoke reached for Kim's face, drawing closer and closer, until...

Until Kim woke up, soaked in sweat and trembling.

It was not the worst nightmare she'd had about Shego and Michelle that night, but the fact that she was having them at all was what kept Kim from going back to sleep.

She wanted to believe that the dreams were a warning. Something was telling her not to give up on finding Michelle, even if she didn't do it for Team Go. Whatever Michelle's Go Glow was, it shouldn't be in Shego's hands any longer.

Reaching over to the nightstand to fumble for her Kimmunicator, Kim brought up the address Wade had determined was Drakken's current residence. She was tempted to leave right now, in order to prevent any of her nightmares from coming true. But, she decided to wait until tonight.

If Kim was going to be fighting for her life, she at least wanted to know for sure that the darkness was natural.

* * *

6:35 AM - Drakken's Lair

"I'm REALLY sorry, Auntie Shego!" the girl pleaded as Shego glared across the table at her. "It's just that this hasn't happened in so long, I forgot to warn you!"

"So tell me now," Shego insisted angrily.

Michelle's bottom lip poked out and trembled adorably. "When I don't take in enough heat, my body sort of...contracts."

"And what happens if you still don't get enough?"

"I don't know. My family never let it get that far," Michelle replied. "At least, if they did, I don't remember it."

"Wait. So you could age twenty years in a day if you got enough heat?"

"In theory."

"So how old are you?"

"I don't know," Michelle admitted softly. "Mom might, but she always says there are more important things to be concerned with, like my powers."

"And it never occurred to her your age is directly related to your powers?" Shego asked in disbelief.

The girl bit her lip. "Mom...she doesn't like to be questioned. It irks her."

"It irks her," Shego repeated slowly.

"Her word, not mine. She doesn't get mad, she gets irked. You don't want to see her mad."

"Oh? What's she like then?"

Michelle shrugged. "No one knows. She's never gotten mad. People just seem to know better."

"So...you've never made her mad?"

"Nope. Just irked."

"Yeah." Shego stared at her for a moment. "Okay, I have to say this. I never, ever want to meet your mother."

Michelle looked startled, but not exactly surprised. "Why not?"

"Oh, I would punch her face in, because I tend to get mad, not irked, and anyone who tried to explain the difference would get the same treatment."

For several seconds, Michelle didn't say anything.

Shego wondered if maybe she'd offended Michelle by badmouthing her mother, but she'd warned the girl that family wasn't a preferred topic.

"Could you show me?" Michelle asked abruptly.

"What?"

"How you'd hit her?"

Shego's jaw dropped. "WHAT?"

"Show me how you'd hit her!" Michelle insisted, a big grin on her face.

"Oh. Well, uh..." Shego stood up uncertainly and moved away from the table. "How tall is she?"

Michelle didn't even blink. "Same as you."

"Skinny?"

The girl shook her head. "Same as you."

For some reason, that bothered Shego a great deal. "What's she look like?"

"You."

"Wait, wait. Your mother...looks like me."

"Exactly," Michelle agreed, nodding.

"So...if I asked you to draw me a picture of your moth-"

"I'd ask you to pose for it."

"Oh, God," Shego whispered, shaking her head. Then her eyes widened. "Oh, GOD!"

"What?"

"Your parents," Shego said, her voice trembling. "Do they...uh...do they still...?"

Michelle stared hard at Shego. "You don't really want to know that, do you?"

"GOD!" Shego threw up her hands and began to pace the room, muttering to herself.

"Are you mad at me?" Michelle whispered.

Shego stopped short and looked at her. "No, Michelle. I just-"

"Michi."

"What?"

Michelle cleared her throat quietly. "My closest friends...back when I had them...called me Michi. And so does Uncle Mego."

"And your parents?" Shego asked, choking back bile.

"Never," Michelle said quietly, looking down.

Shego felt something wash over her, and while it might have been nausea, she suspected it had a lot more to do with the way the girl looked as if she hadn't had any close human contact in a long time. There was no way Shego could really know that without asking, and yet it explained a great deal about why Michelle was willing to take a blind risk on a relative she'd never even met before.

With a sigh, Shego returned to the table and knelt beside the girl. "Look, I...you don't...why'd you tell me that?"

Michelle sniffled a little, her large, green eyes staring up at Shego. "Everyone who really, really loves me, calls me Michi."

"Come on, you don't really mean that," Shego said at once, not even believing her own words. And there was certainly no reason why she should be putting in a good word for Hego, not after what she'd just learned. But it seemed like the thing to say at the time.

"I do," Michelle murmured. "I was hoping...maybe...you could call me that, too." She quickly lowered her gaze back to the floor. "Eventually."

Shego just sat there, not sure how to respond. Did she love Michelle? Not really, but she wasn't about to tell the poor girl that. On the other hand, Drakken had a point; if Shego hadn't liked Michelle, she wouldn't still be here. And the idea of sending Michelle away, while it had seemed like a very real possibility just yesterday, now seemed cruel beyond belief...beyond Shego, even, and that worried her.

She had become attached, after all.

Damn.

Shego hesitantly raised her hand and patted Michelle gently on her head. "Like I said, I'm new to this whole...family thing. So why don't we just see if we can work our way up to the pet names, okay?"

Michelle didn't look happy, but she did seem satisfied. "Okay," she whispered. "But...what do I call you?"

Normally, anyone calling Shego "Auntie" would've made her feel old, which of course deserved a good jab to the gut at the very least. But when she really thought about it, there was no telling how old Michelle was, and as it stood, having a kid calling her "Auntie" was way better than a teenager doing it.

"We'll worry about that later," Shego said at last, standing up and crossing the room. "Right now, I need to vent."

Michelle perked up at once. "You wanna talk?"

"No, I want to wreck stuff," Shego explained slowly.

"Oh." Michelle looked confused, and then hopeful. "Could I watch?"

Shego stared at her uncertainly. "Why?"

"You're going to blow stuff up, right? I need the heat."

"So now...I have a reason to blow things up?" Shego muttered to herself.

"Only if you want me to keep existing. And you could probably just aim at me if you really wanted to, but..."

"Would it hurt?"

"I don't THINK so, but I've never really tried it."

"Maybe we should wait until you're...uh...grown."

Michelle beamed at her, shortly before hopping up and running over to cling to Shego's legs.

Shego stared down at her. "You know, if you were trying to tackle me, you needed more of a running start. We'll have to work on that."

Michelle giggled. "I'm hugging you, silly!"

"Oh. Because THAT makes more sense."

"It does! It's what you do when you like somebody!"

"You, uh...ever hug your mother?"

"Sometimes," Michelle said, looking thoughtful. "But it's not as nice. It's like...she's not really there to enjoy it. Like it's work for her."

Shego shook her head, and without really thinking about it, knelt down and drew the girl into her arms. "You can think of her, if you want."

Michelle pressed her face into Shego's neck. "Why would I? It's nicer to think of you."

Shego held the girl at arm's length. "But don't you miss her?"

Michelle shook her head. "Mom isn't the kind of person you miss. She's the kind you're glad to get a break from every now and then. She won't miss me, either. Not right away, at least."

"The more I learn about this woman, the less I like her."

"We get that a lot, actually." Michelle tugged on Shego's hand. "Can we go blow stuff up now?"

"Yeah, sure, why not," Shego sighed, allowing her niece to lead her out of the room. "But you better be good at dodging flaming debris. I don't like to stop once I've started."

* * *

7:01 AM - Go Tower, Go City

Mego was jolted awake by the sound of two fists pounding on his door. He looked at the alarm clock at his beside, and was shocked to see how late it was. He never slept this late.

Well, he was never allowed to sleep this late.

Normally, he'd either be walking Michelle through her latest exercise program, or eating breakfast with the twins. Of course, Michelle being gone might explain why he wasn't working with her...but not why Hego had yet to burst in and ordered him to get up.

But it obviously wasn't Hego at the door now, he wouldn't have bothered to knock, and Galgo had never bothered to visit.

"Mego, it's us!" one of the twins whispered.

"We need to talk to you!" the other hissed.

For a moment, he debated whether or not he should let them in. He didn't feel like talking to them, or anyone else. All he wanted right then was to go back to bed, and pretend none of them had ever met Galgo.

"It's about Michelle."

Seconds later, Mego was back in bed, but now the twins had joined him as well, though they sat at the edges, perhaps sensing he was still in a bad mood.

For several seconds, not one of them said a word.

Finally, one of the twins spoke. "Do you think she'll ever come back, Mego?"

It was a question he'd asked himself many times. Part of him was glad Michelle was gone. Maybe she could talk to Shego, convince her to care about her family one last time, long enough for them to band together against Galgo, and...what? He wasn't sure, exactly. Galgo's Go Glow was a carefully guarded secret. Not one of them seemed to know what it was, not even Hego (though he continued to insist that it was both massively powerful and vital to the structure of the team). If it weren't for the little hints they'd gotten over time, they might suspect she didn't have any powers at all.

No one ever said no to Galgo. At least, not if she didn't want them to. Often she was perfectly content to let Hego bully people into doing her will.

Anyone who got in her way, from teammates to criminals, all came up against a roadblock, and amazingly, it was Galgo herself, not Hego. There was something so frightening about her constant confidence, so terrifying about the way she could just look at a grown man, and bring him to his knees in seconds, leaving him a quivering mass of fear.

Yet even that wasn't as bothersome as the impact she had on the team.

Hego had changed. Since Galgo had joined the team, he had become her puppet. Oh, he still lead the team, and Galgo never actually ordered him around, but it was clear she was wearing the pants at all times. Even worse, Hego was so far gone that he didn't seem to know or care. But there was no talking to him, or trying to talk the twins into a revolt. They feared Galgo most of all, and while Mego couldn't prove it, he was almost certain she had threatened to harm either them or himself, as they surrendered almost immediately to her will every time.

Michelle had been their only real source of hope, despite being the one who should've deferred to Galgo the most. From the start, behind her sweetness, Michelle had always had something of an independent streak. It didn't help that she was virtually locked in the tower from birth. Galgo had gradually cut off all her contacts with the outside world, and pushed Michelle more and more towards taking her rightful place as a member of Team Go. The problem was, Michelle couldn't control her powers when she was upset. And because she couldn't even leave the grounds, she was always a little upset, even when she seemed happy. While Mego had figured that out early, Galgo seemed to think it was merely something she had to work out of her daughter. Needless to say, it hadn't gone all that well. Michelle had given into her mother's demands all of her life, and Mego was amazed she hadn't left sooner.

"Maybe it's our fault," one the twins offered.

"We should've been nicer to her."

Mego snorted. "Don't be stupid. She loved all of us. She didn't leave because of you, or me. She left...because she had to."

* * *

It had been a slow day...for Michelle, anyway. Her parents had gone out to deal with an incident at the airport, and left strict instructions for Mego to keep Michelle out of trouble while they were gone.

Neither of them minded that part so much. Michelle never seemed to get tired of hearing her uncle talk about himself.

But Galgo had specifically told Mego that they were not to leave the tower for any reason.

"Not even if it burned down?" he asked, jokingly.

"Not even then," Galgo had replied without missing a beat.

The trouble was, Michelle was getting harder to say no to. Every time he had to explain that she wasn't allowed outside without one of her parents, he had to watch her expression sag with disappointment.

Sure enough, they weren't alone five minutes before she begged him to take her outside. And again, Mego had to refuse.

"Can't we just go up to the roof, then?" Michelle wheedled.

Shortly after Michelle's birth, a corner of the roof had been converted into an elaborate tanning station. Not that Michelle ever tanned, of course. She simply...glowed to varying degrees, depending on how much heat she'd stored up in her body. The roof was often the only place outside Michelle was allowed to go, and even then someone went with her. It was technically part of the tower, and Michelle was looking a little pale (for her, anyway), so Mego didn't see the harm in an hour or so of exposure to sunlight.

Michelle was thrilled (or at least, a great deal happier than she had been) when he said yes. She practically dragged him up to the roof and stretched out on her personal "tanning couch," which was black and fairly worn out.

She seemed to be in a reflective mood, so Mego didn't bother trying to entertain her.

"Uncle Mego," she said after a while. "What would you do if I jumped off of the roof?"

Mego nearly dropped the bottled water he was holding. "What? Why would ask me that?"

"I want to know," Michelle said simply, staring at the sky.

He sighed. "Michi, I know your life isn't great, but that doesn't mean you should just throw it away."

She blinked and looked at him. "Uncle Mego, I wouldn't die from it."

"How could you NOT?"

"For one thing, the area alongside the tower is...?"

"Covered by the laser defense grid," Mego replied slowly, his eyes widening. "So you-"

"Would just get stronger as I fell. And if I did it directly after a tan, I'd be more than strong enough to survive, and that's only if I decide I want to hit the ground. I could easily just convert my bottom half to gas and glide off."

"You've thought about this," he said.

"Every time I come up here."

"You...you'd run away, Michi?"

"Only from my life. Not from you, or the others. I just...I've never been free, you know? I always have to be somewhere, or be doing something I really don't want to do. I can't...live, Uncle Mego. I just exist, and that's it. I'm supposed to be the strongest member of Team Go, and I can't even leave the tower to go on a mission."

"And jumping off of the roof is the best idea you have so far?"

"It's the easiest. Mom just assumes I'm not confident enough to do it, so she hasn't changed the defenses yet. But you'd be surprised what I can do, if I feel like I have to."

Mego took a deep breath. "I'd push you."

Michelle looked at him again. "What?"

"If you were going to jump, I'd push you."

Michelle reached over to squeeze his hand. "Thanks, Uncle Mego."

"Just promise me you'll practice in your room first. The last thing we need is another member caught up in a media frenzy."

For some reason, Michelle looked away, toward the edge of the roof. "Do you think...she would've jumped?"

"Shego? Definitely. Only she would've wrecked Hego's room first."

"Do you think she'd like me?"

"I don't know, Michi. But if anyone could manage not to like you, it'd be her. Don't take it personal; I don't think there's anyone she does like. Not even me."

"She must get lonely," Michelle mused aloud.

Mego shrugged. "Maybe. But I think she'd rather try her luck alone than with us. Well, she's not exactly alone, there's that Drak-"

"Am I interrupting something?" Galgo asked softly as her shadow fell over them.

Neither of them were fooled by her tone. Galgo only spoke softly when she was extremely angry.

"No, Mom," Michelle replied quickly. "Uncle Mego was just-"

"Telling stories of the past again, no doubt starring him?" Galgo's black lips curved into a disapproving frown. "Dear Mego, can you not appreciate that we would prefer for Michelle to live in the present? There are, after all, some things about the past that are better left...unsaid." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "I do hope we understand each other."

Mego said nothing, but he wasn't foolish enough to look away.

Galgo stretched out her hand. "Come, Michelle. If we hurry, we can make up for wasted time in your regimen."

"Yes, Mom," Michelle answered dutifully, allowing her mother to pull her up and away from Mego. As they started across the roof, though, she looked over her shoulder and mouthed "thanks" to Mego.

It was enough for Mego that Michelle didn't see their time together as a waste, like Galgo did.

Almost enough, anyway.

* * *

Hego stared at the fish tank expectantly, but there were no fish.

There wasn't even any water, for that matter.

All that the tank contained was a large, black rock, resting atop soil and dead leaves.

Not for the first time, he wondered why his wife insisted on keeping such a thing in the corner of their bedroom. It wasn't very pleasant to look at, nor did it seem to serve any real purpose. Galgo would sometimes sit and stare at it for a while, even run her fingers through the soil occasionally.

But he couldn't throw it out. It was important to Galgo, and so it was important to Hego. That had to be enough, since there was no other reason why he would allow something so unseemly to remain in his bedroom.

"Darling," Galgo said, even as Hego turned to face her. "What are you doing?"

"I was...admiring your rock," Hego answered uncertainly. "It...captivates me, for some reason. I can't really explain it."

"No need to explain," Galgo said dismissively, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Men are always distracted by beautiful things."

As her fingers brushed along his neck, Hego remembered something. "Michelle."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry, dear. I know you miss her, but I'm sure that we'll get her back very soon."

"Shego could harm her."

"She could, yes. But I don't think she will. Our daughter is much like me in that respect. It's very hard to resist her wishes."

"She can't protect herself from Shego's evil. She needs us."

"Michelle is a good girl," Galgo assured him. "In the end, she'll do exactly what she's supposed to. Trust me."

In the fish tank, apparently unnoticed by both of them, a few of the leaves rusted briefly, and then grew still.


	4. Chapter 4

3:45 PM - Drakken's Lair

Shego stared at the circle of bruised henchmen around her with a small smile. "Sloppy. You could've at least stacked them nice and neat."

"I don't like attacking people," Michelle sighed as the orange energy field around her now teenage body faded. "I wish you had attack drones like we do at Go Tower. It's better practice, because they're harder to punch through."

"Yeah, well, we're not exactly government funded around here, kiddo. We have henchmen, remember? Good guys don't use henchmen, except maybe for target practice."

"Which is pretty much what we just did," Michelle pointed out.

"Yeah, but my boss signs their checks. So no matter how much you want to twist it, we're still the bad guys here."

Michelle stared at her. "I don't believe that. Not about you, anyway."

Shego stared right back at her. "I don't know if anyone's told you, but I'm a thief. I steal things that don't belong to me, and I don't always need a reason, though it doesn't hurt to get paid for it. Face it, Michelle: I'm a thief, so I'm a bad person."

"You expect me to believe that being a thief makes you bad?" Michelle asked. "Are poor people who steal food to survive bad?"

"I'm not poor, kid. And I steal because I want to, I don't have to."

"What you do doesn't always define who you are."

"How would you know?"

Michelle glared at her. "Because Mom's a hero, and she's a bad person, that's how I know."

"She can't be that bad, or she wouldn't be on the team. Trust me, I know."

"Of course no one but us ever see her like that. She's good at hiding it in public. Though most people never look anywhere but her chest."

"Okay, I'll bite," Shego relented. "What's she done that's so bad?"

"One year for her birthday, I made her an enormous cake. It was the first thing I'd ever cooked, and it took me hours of work. Uncle Mego tasted it, and he said it couldn't have turned out better than if he'd made it himself. I just knew Mom would love it."

Michelle paused, taking several deep breaths. Shego waited in silence for her to finish.

"Only, she didn't. She barely even looked at it. She said it was a huge waste of food, and she threw it out. No, she made ME throw it out. She told me never to do anything so foolish again, right before she sent me to my room for a whole month."

Michelle turned away, but not before Shego saw tears rolling down her face.

"I just...I thought she'd be proud. I thought, for once in my life, she'd act like she loved me. No, I thought she really WOULD love me, and that it finally wouldn't be an act. But...no. It was a waste. Like she said. Just a waste...of time, effort, and love." She lowered her head, her shoulders shaking slightly. "She didn't even taste it."

Shego stood there for a few seconds, watching her niece cry in silence. Finally, she closed the distance between them and gently placed her hands on Michelle's shoulders.

She was more than a little surprised when Michelle whirled around and shoved her away.

"Get away from me!" Michelle cried, wiping futilely at her face. "I don't...I just wanted you to love me," she whimpered.

Shego shook her head. "I'm not your mother, Michelle."

As if hearing her voice for the first time, Michelle blinked and looked up at her. "Auntie Shego? What...I...oh. I'm s-sorry..."

"Yeah," Shego said quietly. "Me, too." She grabbed Michelle's arm and pulled her into a rough hug.

At first, Michelle squirmed and tried to pull away.

"I'm not your mother," Shego repeated in her ear. She had to keep repeating it, though, before Michelle would stop struggling, and then she clung to Shego desperately, emitting muffled sobs every few seconds.

"I'm not your mother," Shego said again, stroking Michelle's red hair.

"No," Michelle agreed, "but I wish you had been..."

Shego closed her eyes and held her niece tighter. She couldn't say the words, but she was starting to wish the exact same thing.

* * *

5:05 PM - Bueno Nacho, Middleton

Ron had just finished his last burrito when his cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket.

"Could you grab that for me, buddy?" he asked of his naked mole rat. "My fingers are kinda, um, cheesy at the moment..."

Rufus nodded and dove into Ron's pocket, gradually pushing the cell phone out, flipping it open with practiced ease, and mashing a button.

"Ron? I think we've got trouble."

Ron instantly recognized Wade's voice. "I'm listening."

"I was concerned when you guys told me how creepy Galgo was, so I did some digging. She's got a pretty good service record as a member of Team Go, and she'd never done anything noteworthy before then. But then I tried searching by her real name, Gabrielle. Didn't have a last name to go on, but I've narrowed down birth dates to anyone who could approximately be Galgo's current age. I think I know who she is, or who she used to be."

"Uh oh. Who?"

"Gabrielle Simmons. No criminal record, but there's one thing that caught my attention. When she was twelve or so, she went missing for a whole month. She was finally found in a forest, but get this: it was five miles from the original crash site of the meteor that gave Team Go their powers. And if my estimates are right, this happened a little more than a year after the crash."

"She was never tested?" Ron asked.

"That's the strange thing: she WAS. Nothing turned up in the official records. And the next time she shows up, she's marrying Hego."

"So do you know what her power is yet?"

"No. But because there's no record of her developing powers, I've got a guess. She might be able to somehow influence the minds of others, but to what extent I'm not sure. It would explain how suddenly she joined Team Go and married Hego. It was like she came out of nowhere."

"What does Kim think?"

"No idea. She's not answering her Kimmunicator, but I've tracked her location, and she's still at school. Ron, you need to warn her. Until I know more, both of you should stay away from Galgo. She might even be able to turn you against each other."

Ron shared a confused look with Rufus. "So, Shego's not the bad guy this time?"

"I don't know about that, but she may not be the worst this time. I'm starting to think Michelle was never kidnapped at all, and even if she was, maybe Shego had nothing to do with it. Granted, Shego would have access to Go Tower because of her Go Glow, but that and her criminal record just make her a convenient, convincing suspect. Almost no one would question her involvement. We didn't, at first."

"Wade, you keep trying to reach KP. I'm gonna try to catch her before she leaves school. With any luck, one of us will talk to her before she does anything."

"Do you think she would?"

"She said she was having bad dreams about Michelle. I think Kim might try to find her."

"I don't think that's a good idea, either. For all we know, this could be a setup."

"But who's getting set up, Wade: Kim or Shego?"

"I don't know. Maybe both of them at once. Which is all the more reason for Kim to keep her distance until I can find out something more definite."

"So you want me to find Kim...and tell her to do nothing but wait."

There was a long pause.

"There's some knockout gas from the last mission in your locker," Wade offered.

"And that gives me a, what, thirty percent chance of making this work?"

"I was thinking more like twenty, actually."

Ron sighed and shook his head. "Wade, dude, you have to learn to lie to me."

"Sorry."

* * *

5:15 PM - Middleton High, Parking Lot

Volunteering to file papers for Mr. Barkin had not been one of Kim's better ideas. The man was a meticulous note taker, and generally a single set of notes ran on for a good five pages, easy.

Still, Kim had done it not because she wanted to, but in order to suppress the strangely strong urge to drop everything and track down Michelle...alone. That really bothered her, that she would even think of doing something so dangerous without Ron. But she had just...wanted to. Needed to, almost.

It was pure luck that she'd run into Mr. Barkin while leaving her last class, because every student knew that if you started something for Mr. Barkin, you finished it. More often than not with him breathing down your neck the whole time, though he gave female students a bit more space for obvious reasons.

Of course, now that Mr. Barkin had dismissed her, the urge to find Michelle was stronger than ever. Kim wished she had asked Ron to wait for her; maybe he could've talked her out of this somehow over a Grande-Sized Naco.

But Ron wasn't there, which left Kim alone with her thoughts. Thoughts which were turning increasingly to Michelle, and all the damage she might do, WOULD do if she stayed with Shego any longer.

Five minutes and a phone call later, Kim found herself sitting beside Global Justice Agent Will Du in his personal transport. Normally, she would never have dreamed of calling in a favor from him, but normal for her had flown out of the window a long time ago.

"Understand that this is a one-time professional courtesy only, Possible," Agent Du said sternly. "GJ is not a taxicab service."

"Relax. I'll be sure to mention that my successful capture of Shego wouldn't have been possible without the assistance of a certain high-ranking GJ Agent. Satisfied?"

"Quite," Agent Du replied, casting a rather disapproving eye on Kim's school clothes.

Kim glared at him. "Contrary to what you may think, I'd rather catch Shego dressed like this, than waste time changing and risk letting her get away."

He cleared his throat loudly. "For your information, our ETA is fifteen minutes, and there should be at least one standard issue GJ field ops suit in the back that fits you."

"And do I want to know why you might have such a suit?"

"A good agent is prepared for any possibility, Possible. Especially an agent that has worked with you."

"You're all heart," Kim said dryly as she headed for the rear. "And no peeking!"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"I heard that! Don't forget your promise not to interfere!"

"As I said, this is not a GJ matter, Possible. Team Go decided not to inform us of their situation, and so we have chosen not to get involved."

"Dr. Director doesn't take being snubbed lightly, huh?"

"She most certainly does not. If Team Go thinks it can handle its own affairs, we are certainly willing to let them try. Unless, of course, Project: Brightstar becomes too unstable again."

Kim poked her head out of the back. "Let me guess. Michelle?"

"That is her common name, yes. There have been a series of unusual disturbances involving Team Go over the past few years. In one of the earliest incidents, an escaped felon received second-degree burns over most of his body. GJ had reason to believe Project: Brightstar was involved, and Team Go oh so graciously volunteered to confine her to Go Tower for an undetermined period, though we were led to believe it would be for the rest of her natural life. The incidents didn't stop, so much as they became limited to Go Tower itself. For some reason, Dr. Director hasn't taken any further actions against them. However, if I have reason to believe that Project: Brightstar has become unstable, I will have no choice but to inform her."

"Fair enough. But otherwise, keep your distance."

"As we agreed."


	5. Chapter 5

8:45 PM - Subway Station, Go City

Ron no longer had any doubts that Wade did indeed rock.

He had, unfortunately, missed Kim at school. Once there, however, Wade had secured, much to Ron's disbelief, an ambulance to transport him. Apparently the driver owed not only Kim but Mrs. Dr. Possible as well, and he was all too happy to help Ron out. While the ride was faster than it would've been in most other vehicles he'd ridden in, Ron couldn't help feeling a little guilty the whole time.

Ron met Mrs. Dr. Possible outside of Middleton Medical Center, where she wordlessly handed him a photo that Wade had faxed to her. It was a picture of young Gabrielle Simmons, only moments after she was found in the forest. The girl was skinny and filthy, her clothes caked with mud and dead leaves. Her eyes, however, were unusually bright and clear. In her hands was a large, black rock with sharp edges, which, according to the article that accompanied the photo, she had used to kill and scale fish for food.

The problem with that, Wade had discovered upon further study, was that the only fish that lived in area previously had ceased to exist days after the meteor crash. More than likely, the same radiation that had given Team Go their powers had contaminated and destroyed select species of the local wildlife. Whatever Gabrielle had survived on for a whole month, it couldn't have been fish. More than that, it couldn't have even been horribly mutated fish; there simply were no more fish by the time she'd wandered into the forest.

Wade had gone a step further, and found that several rivers in the forest had once been home to the now endangered blue-bellied trout. A large part of their diet had depended on several local insects. Oddly enough, researchers not only found that most of these insects had survived the meteor strike, but that many species had actually reproduced in abundance. One researcher even suggested that the insects had grown resourceful enough to somehow destroy their natural predators, but his assumption was largely considered a joke among his colleagues.

Wade had also faxed over a note, which was attached to the photo. At first glance, the note seemed a bit fragmented, but Ron eventually understood what the super genius had been getting at.

The note read: "Go Tower. Find rock. Kill ALL bugs. Warn Team."

* * *

8:58 PM - Drakken's Lair

Michelle had been pretty quiet since her little outburst, but Shego wasn't sure if that was good or bad. At any rate, she had no idea what else to say to her niece. There were no more tears or blubbering, at least.

Unknown to Michelle, Shego had come to a rather startling decision after that incident: she couldn't allow her niece to go home. Not after all she'd seen and heard. It would be remarkably like someone sending Shego to jail: eventually, she'd just break out again. Only in Michelle's case, she wasn't infamous enough to demand respect with a mere glance, so her imprisonment wouldn't be as harmless. If anything, it would be even more harmful to her already fractured state.

Now, it was simply a matter of explaining her reasoning to Michelle. Shego had never actually killed anyone, and while she was very much tempted to make an exception for Michelle's parents, it probably wouldn't make either of their lives easier in the long run. Besides, with all the crimes Shego had committed, adding the murder of two superheroes would surely keep her in jail longer than comet power could keep her alive. And now that she had Michelle to think about, Shego was actually looking at ways to minimize jail time. She was well-connected enough that she wouldn't have to actually rat out Drakken unless they specifically demanded it, and they might ease up on that if she told them everything she knew about Kim Possible's other foes. With some luck, she might even be able to get Kim herself to put in a good word as a character witness. That in itself was a long shot, but at the very least, Kim would have to admit she'd never seen Shego kill anyone.

Shego was pulled from her thoughts by, of all things, the doorbell. She blinked and looked at Michelle, who looked equally stumped.

A row of monitors along the wall hummed to life, revealing Dr. Drakken's blue face in triplicate. "Ah...Shego? Kim Possible is ringing our doorbell," he said, clearly worried. "Do you want to, eh...handle this?"

"Yeah, fine," Shego sighed. She stood up, and fixed Michelle with a stern look. "Stay here."

Michelle's eyes were wide with excitement. "You really know Kim Possible? I've always wanted to meet her! How do you know each other? I thought you were a bad guy?"

"That's...kinda how I know her," Shego said hesitantly.

"Oh," Michelle whispered. "You're not going to fight her, are you?"

"It's what we do," Shego insisted at once.

"But what if you hurt her?"

"She doesn't get hurt. Not enough, anyway."

"But you-"

"Michelle. I told you, I'm a bad guy. Kim is my enemy. I always fight her, and she always shows up for more. It's the way these things are done."

"Can't you just talk to her?"

"I don't think-"

"Shego!" Kim's voice shouted through the outside intercom. "I want to talk to you!"

"See?" Michelle asked. "She doesn't want to fight! Just talk to her!"

"We talk while we fight, too," Shego muttered.

Michelle frowned at her. "You tried to fight me when I rang the doorbell, and where did that get you?"

"That was different!" Shego protested hotly.

"No, it wasn't. You just can't answer the door that way, Auntie Shego. It's rude!"

"I'M A BAD GUY!" Shego shouted.

"But NOT a bad person," Michelle corrected. "Bad guys can have manners."

"Only the ones with stupid accents to match," Shego grumbled.

"Can't you try it my way? Just this once?" She clutched Shego's arm. "For me? Please?"

"You're really starting to cramp my style, kid."

With a huge grin, Michelle kissed Shego's cheek. "Thanks!"

Shego made her way to the door, muttering angrily all the while. She had just reached the door when she spotted Michelle peeking around a corner at her.

"I told you to stay."

"I'm just making sure you behave," Michelle replied. "I'll stay out of sight, but I'll hear it if you shout."

Shego waited until Michelle had vanished around the corner before pulling open the heavy door. Sure enough, Kim Possible stared back at her, although Shego noticed some differences right away.

Kim seemed...anxious. She never stood still for very long, either moving her arms or shifting her weight every few seconds. It could be that wearing Global Justice colors made her really uncomfortable, but Shego didn't think that was all of it.

"Where is she?" Kim asked at once.

"Who?" Shego asked coolly.

"Michelle. Hego's daughter. I know you took her."

"I what?" Shego demanded, anger slipping into her tone.

"You took her from Go Tower."

"I didn't, but I'm starting to wish I had."

"So she's not here?" Kim asked, trying to peer over Shego's shoulder.

Shego leaned into Kim's line of sight. "Why do you care?"

"Three reasons. Her parents asked me to look into it. She might be dangerous. And, well, I like to think no one but me can handle you."

"Oh, yeah? Then listen to what Shego says, Princess. Her parents are creeps, and if you're working for them, then this is as far as you go. You don't know what you've gotten yourself into, Kimmie, so just back off."

"No," Kim said firmly.

"You've met her mother?" Shego asked.

"Yes."

"Between the two of us, who do you really think is lying?"

Kim hesitated for a long moment. "Both of you, to some degree," she said at last.

"But who's telling the most truth?"

Kim didn't look like she wanted to answer that.

"You know me, Kimmie. Why would I do anything to get mixed up with my family again?"

"You're the only possible suspect, Shego. I can't ignore that."

"I'm not telling you to ignore it. Yes, Michelle isn't at home, and yes, she is here. But that doesn't mean I took her. It means I took her in. She came to me on her own."

"Then I need to hear that from her."

"Fine. But let's get one thing straight, Kim," Shego said, lowering her voice. "You talk to her. You try to take her with you, or harm her in any way, and we're gonna have big problems."

"Is that a threat, Shego?"

"It's a promise. Only you can turn it into a threat."

* * *

9:20 PM - Go Tower, Go City

Ron had only been waiting a few minutes before the door slid open, revealing one of the Wego twins.

"Is this about Michelle?" he asked at once.

"It's more about Galgo, actually," Ron replied. He wasn't at all surprised when the red-clad Team Go member stiffened noticeably. "I take it you're not in her fan club, either."

Wego quickly pulled Ron inside and shut the door. "Look, Ron. Because you helped save us before, I'm going to warn you now. You don't want to mess with Galgo. She's-"

"Is she here?" Ron interrupted.

"No, she went out, but-"

"Great. Where's her room?"

"Same as Hego's, on the third floor. But why-"

"Thanks, you've been a big help," Ron said, slapping Wego on the back as he strode towards the elevators.

"Ron, no!" Wego hissed, grabbing his arm. "Hego's up there! If he sees you, he'll...I don't know, but it won't be good! Galgo wouldn't want you here, and neither will he!"

"Then I guess I have two choices," Ron answered. "I can either take my chances alone, or hope to have some superpowered backup by the time I run into him. You in?"

Wego was clearly shocked. "Ron, I can't!"

Without warning, Ron backhanded Wego across the face.

"I think you really needed a kick in the head, but I might need you conscious later," Ron spat. "How stupid ARE you people? You're supposed to be superheroes! When someone threatens what you hold dear, you don't obey them, you FIGHT! Even if it means getting hurt or putting your life on the line! You lost Shego, you lost Michelle, and if you blatant Geminis don't man up and help me take down Galgo, so help me, I'll go Zorpox on your synchronized butts!"

A round of clapping followed Ron's outburst, and they both looked up to see Mego joining them, followed by the other Wego twin.

Ron took a deep breath, but Mego cut him off.

"No need to repeat the speech for us, we got the gist of it. But I'll have you know that all of us together couldn't keep Shego here by force, so we didn't lose her so much as she forced her way out. Now, what's the plan?"

Ron sighed in relief. "You guys keep Hego busy, and I'll handle the rest. By the way, where'd Galgo go?"

Mego shrugged. "You tell me; you're the one with all the answers. She keeps tabs on us, not the other way around."

* * *

9:25 PM - Outside Drakken's Lair

Much to Kim's surprise, Michelle confirmed all of Shego's story. She even admitted to escaping Go Tower and begging Shego to let her hide in Drakken's Lair. When Kim mentioned Galgo's claims of kidnapping, Michelle, not unlike Shego, was genuinely surprised.

"This is the first I'm hearing about it. I just assumed they'd know I ran away."

"Shego didn't encourage or force you to do so in any way?" Kim asked.

"Of course not. She didn't even know about me until I showed up here. I only found her here because I can sense Team Go energy."

"But didn't you know that Shego was a criminal?"

"I suspected, but I didn't care. She's the only other family I have. And it's not like she's a serial killer or anything. Honestly, I've done worse things unintentionally, so who am I to judge?"

"Michelle, you need to be in a secure environment. You need to go home. You don't want any more 'accidents,' do you?"

Michelle glared at Kim, her eyes flashing the same brilliant red as her hair. "I AM in a secure environment. Auntie Shego has shown me more love in two days than my mother's shown me my whole life. She'd never force me to do anything, and she'd never let anything bad happen to me."

"What about when something bad happens because of you?" Kim asked. "Even if you don't mean to be, you're dangerous, and-"

"So because I was born with these powers that I didn't even ask for, my only choices are to be a prisoner, a weapon, or a criminal?" Michelle cried. "Now I see why Auntie Shego lives the way she does. And I'm starting to think I should live that way, too!"

"I can't let you do that. You need to come with me, Michelle. I'll take you home-"

"I AM home!" Michelle shouted. "I can't believe I thought you'd be any different from the others. I thought you, of all people, would know how it feels to be treated like a weapon to point at any bad guy that pops up. You just don't realize you're being exploited, because you can go where you want. But I've spent my whole life in that stupid tower, and I think I've more than earned a break!"

"You can't take breaks. You can't just turn your powers off, and you can't pretend that you don't have them. There's always going to be a risk that you'll lose control."

"Every time I've lost control, I've been with my parents. They're obviously not qualified to 'contain' me."

"And you think Shego is?"

"I know she is. Because she's been treated the same way, and that's why she left. That's why I'm staying with her. I'm sorry you wasted your time, Kim, but I'm not going with you."

"Don't be so sure," Kim said. "Just because I don't have powers, it doesn't mean I'm a pushover."

Michelle stared hard at Kim. "Okay, I don't know what you've been told, but I don't take orders from near strangers. Especially if it involves going back to that tower."

"Let's not make this a big deal," Kim suggested, reaching for Michelle's arm. Her fingers had just started to close around it when they were almost violently repelled by a glowing, orange barrier.

"Like you said," Michelle commented with a smirk as the barrier faded, "I can't just turn them off."

Before Kim could reply, Shego appeared, moving Michelle behind her protectively.

"I warned you, Possible!" Shego snarled, her fists igniting.

Kim wisely took a step back. "Calm down, Shego. Michelle needs to go back to Go Tower."

"Doesn't matter. She doesn't WANT to, and that's enough for me. Back off! She's staying here!"

"She doesn't belong with you, Shego!"

"She's my niece, she came to me for help, and until she doesn't want my help, NO ONE is taking her from me! Not you, not my brothers, and definitely not Galgo!"

Kim suddenly became aware of that fact that Michelle looked extremely pale, and that she was tugging hard on Shego's arm, as if trying to pull her back inside. For some reason, going inside was starting to seem like a good idea, but Kim couldn't imagine why, until the second Shego arrived.

Of course, even before Kim took a long look at the second woman, she knew it wasn't really another Shego.

"My, but we've been busy," Galgo murmured thoughtfully, tapping her black lips with a pale finger.

"I could say the same for you," Shego sneered. "How long does it take you to put on my body every morning? An hour? Two?"

Galgo pointedly ignored Shego, her eyes focusing entirely on Michelle. "We've missed you at home, dear. You should've called if you were going to be out so late. Now, say goodbye to your aunt and young Miss Possible. You won't be seeing either of them again."

"Hold on!" Kim interrupted. "You said Shego kidnapped Michelle!"

"Did I?" Galgo asked lightly. "I must've been lying. I do that sometimes, you see. Michelle, hurry up now. Your father's very worried about you."

"Mom, I...I want to stay here," Michelle whispered.

Galgo sighed and shook her head. "I was afraid you'd say that. But I suppose there's no need to rush or be rude about what comes next." She turned to Kim. "Miss Possible, thank you ever so much for leading me here. I couldn't have found my daughter without you."

For her part, Kim was shocked...especially when she saw how furious Shego looked.

"I did no such thing! I came here alone!" Kim insisted.

"Perhaps you did. The fact remains that I used you to find her. So, in a way, I guess my being here is your fault. But don't feel too bad. You didn't have much of a choice, after all. Most of my...victims don't. For example, I'm done with you now."

Galgo snapped her fingers, and Kim promptly fell face first to the ground.

"I really must start remembering to catch them," Galgo sighed. "Oh, well. Are you two done? I have a turkey in the oven."

"Oh, we'll be done, as soon as you turn around and start walking," Shego growled. "Alone."

"In a minute. Michelle, you remember how I taught you to wave goodbye to your aunt."

Shego's eyes widened, and she spun around in time to have an enormous wall of heat slam into her body, knocking her to the ground. The impact left her dazed, but her vision was clear enough to see the sorrowful look on Michelle's face.

"People are so very impulsive," Galgo said, talking to herself. "They make so many plans, and don't even bother to check in with me first. That...irks me." She paused and cut her eyes at her daughter. "I didn't tell you to stop, young lady."

Michelle's arms jerked up involuntarily, almost as if she were a puppet, and the wall of heat slammed into Shego a second time, pressing her firmly into the ground.

"From one evil woman to another, I suppose I should at least reveal my nefarious plan. But, I don't much like you, so there. Instead, I'm going to tell Michelle, and you can listen if you want. She's never heard this before. No one has, really. I'm an intensely private person."

Shego gritted her teeth and tried to push against the wall.

"I wouldn't do that. You know what might happen if Michelle overtires herself, I trust?"

With a sigh, Shego relaxed her hands.

"What's this? You actually care for her?" Galgo asked in surprise. "That's going to make the next phase so much harder on you. But it's what you deserve, Shego. For turning your back on your family, for leaving them broken and worn out, and for thinking you couldn't be replaced. I'm here to fix all of that. By the time I'm done, they won't miss you anymore. They won't need you anymore. I'm going to wipe you from the face of the earth, and it'll be like you never existed at all. So when people think of you, they'll really be thinking of me. They'll have to. I'll be all that's left of you."

* * *

9:30 PM - Go Tower, Go City

Ron's plan (what there was of it) seemed to be working. He crouched low in the shadows and waited, trying his best to block out the cries of pain and the sounds of what he assumed were bodies crashing into various things.

The Wego twins, unfortunately, were best equipped to keep Hego occupied. Mego was the better fighter, but he couldn't hope to hold out against Hego's strength for long. Their only hope relied on the twins overwhelming Hego with sheer numbers. The more they replicated themselves, the more of them there were to take damage. Ron wasn't exactly clear on if all copies felt a hit simultaneously, of if they were somewhat more independent of each other, and there hadn't been time for the twins to explain it, anyway. All that mattered was that they and Mego were willing, and that was all Ron could ask for.

Soon enough, Mego stumbled past Ron's hiding place, sporting two matching black eyes and a busted lip. Hego was right behind him, practically frothing at the mouth and roaring at the top of his lungs, as he tossed Wegos in all directions as they continually swarmed over him. They weren't strong enough to really damage him, but Hego was clearly distracted, and that was what Ron had been counting on. As soon as the fight had moved a safe distance away, he slipped into the hall and broke into a run, ducking into the first open room and shutting the door.

Clearly, it was Hego and Galgo's bedroom: the door was a horrid combination of green, black, and violet. It didn't take Ron long to spot the fish tank on a dresser against the far wall. It looked perfectly normal, if you ignored the fact that there were no fish or water in it.

"Okay, Rufus," Ron muttered as the naked mole rat's head popped out of his pocket, "let's squish us some bugs."

"Hoo, splat!" Rufus agreed, scampering up to Ron's backpack and pulling out two flyswatters.

Ron armed himself with twin cans of bug spray, developed by Wade himself. The spray had the unfortunate side effect of smelling quite a bit like rotting meat, which was meant to fool the bugs into rushing straight into the toxic mist. Fortunately, Wade had had the foresight to provide breathing masks as well, and once both members of Team Possible had donned them, they nodded to each other and cautiously approached the fish tank.

There was no movement within that Ron could see, not even after he tapped the glass several times. Shrugging, he carefully slid the top of the fish tank off enough to fit the nozzle of one can of bug spray in. He counted to three, then mashed and held down the trigger, blanketing much of the fish tank in a sickly, orange fog.

It was hard to see through the spray, but Ron still detected no motion, other than the fog he was creating. After nearly thirty seconds, he stopped spraying and recovered the fish tank. Almost instantly, he heard a tiny thump, followed by several more, though he still couldn't make out what might be causing them.

The answer came rather unexpectedly, in the form of several black bullets that flew out of the tank and shattered the glass, dumping soil all over the dresser and releasing the remaining fog into the air.

Rufus suddenly leaped from Ron's shoulder and swung madly, swatting two more bullets from the air and send them flying against the wall, where they landed with two very wet smacks, leaving bright green trails of a ghastly substance that somehow made Ron forget all about the stench of rotting meat.

It was at this time that the spilled soil seemed to raise up, revealing an enormous amount of large, black beetles. Ron was amazed that they'd all managed to hide under the soil, there were so many of them. The wonder wore off quickly, though, and he lit into them with the spray.

It quickly became obvious that the beetles had emerged from the fish tank, not because they were dying, but because they were angry. The spray seemed to have no effect at all now. He was too dismayed by this new information to realize that the beetles all seemed to have gathered around the black rock on the dresser, and were now leering at him. Rufus, at least, noticed the latter, and threw himself directly at the beetles, howling as he waded into them with his flyswatters.

Ron shrugged and simply threw his spray cans at the beetles, flattening several of them in the process. He then raised his foot (thankful he wasn't overly fond of these particular shoes) and stomped out a great deal more.

And still the beetles came at them in a seemingly endless surge, apparently determined to avenge their squashed fellows. Rufus was now forced to dodge or sidestep in the midst of his swatting, and even Ron found himself ducking a few times as a single beetle launched itself at his head. Those, he quickly tracked with his eyes and smacked down with his gloved hands.

Now, Ron was no bug expert (in fact, he was rather afraid of most bugs), but the only time he'd seen a large group of bugs so offensively organized, they'd been giant cockroaches. He could never recall hearing anything about beetles so resilient they could break through glass and shrug off insecticide like it was nothing.

"They're super bugs," Ron muttered under his breath. "Where's Aviarius and his tons of birds when we finally need him? The guy can spy on Team Go any time he wants, but he can't show up the one time there's live bird food everywhere?"

Rufus gagged at the thought, then splattered another beetle on the dresser and pointed out the green mess it left behind, as if to say, "Would YOU eat that?"

"Good point, Rufus," Ron agreed. "Hey, if you ever see an end to these things, feel free to point it out."

There was no end, however, at least not at the moment. In all the excitement, Ron and Rufus had never gotten a good look at the black rock. So they hadn't noticed the large crack running down the back of it, or that the beetles were pouring out of it at an impossible rate. Before the night was done, though, Ron would have yet another valid reason to hate and fear bugs, and again, no one but Kim would ever believe him.


	6. Chapter 6

Note: I, supposedly, in a rather indirect way, have been ripped off. I think. Despite that, I urge you to read "Revelations," a devilish-lee good (haha, it's a joke, but you have to read the story to get it) Kigo story by Failte200, who was good enough to inform many people, myself included, that I was apparently a victim of some very sticky fingers. Although, I have to admit, the mark of a master thief is leaving a victim without a clue that they've even become a victim, and in that respect, I must confess to being rather amused about the whole thing. So Failte200, please consider this a courteous nod in your general direction. Or at least a very tiny gift, whatever works best for you.

Warning: This chapter is the one that gave the whole story it's rating. I won't tell you what happens and ruin it for everyone, but I will say it isn't for the kidlings.

* * *

9:40 PM - Outside Drakken's Lair

"I hope we're all nice and comfy?" Galgo asked of her present company. "It's something of a long story."

Shego, largely unable to move because of the constant pressure on her body, merely glared at the woman with all the hate she could muster.

Michelle stood a few feet away, still pouring heat out of her body unwillingly. While she could not seem to consciously disobey her mother's orders, Shego noticed that Michelle was at least free to close her eyes, so she wouldn't have to see what she was currently doing to her aunt.

And Kim, of course, was still out cold on the ground. Shego had no idea what Galgo had done to her, but she wasn't too worried. Kim's fame easily rivaled Team Go's. If she went missing, someone would come looking for her, especially her sidekick.

Seeing that no one was going to answer her, Galgo went on. "As you've probably figured out, I wasn't fortunate enough to have been struck by a meteor. But, in a roundabout way, I still have Team Go's meteor to thank for my own powers. The strike left a very distinctive type of radiation that lives on even today."

"You say that...like it's alive," Shego grunted.

Galgo smiled. "It is, in a way. The radiation had a rather curious effect on the wildlife. Some things died, others...improved. Survival of the fittest and all that. The average person isn't fit, however. Not like the wild creatures we take for granted. They can adapt and survive in some of the most extreme conditions. People, on the other, need extraordinarily good luck. Undeserving as she was, Shego ran into some, and so did I."

Shego ignored the insult, listening closely. Eight out of ten villains tended to unintentionally reveal their weakness through a monologue. But then, it hadn't taken Shego five minutes to figure out what Galgo's was, since it was a pretty common flaw: Galgo liked to hear herself talk. And annoying as the woman's voice was, Shego wasn't about to interrupt until she had come up with some kind of plan. After it worked, there'd be plenty of time to wipe the smug grin off of Galgo's face.

"I was fairly athletic once. School track team, gymnastics, ballet, the whole nine. In short, I was in what you might've considered good shape. Or so I thought. All it takes is a freak storm during a badly planned hiking trip, and you suddenly find out what you're really made of. No matter how fit my body was, my mind was weak. You give up really quick when you don't know where your next meal is coming from, if you'll ever go home, or if you'll just get gored by some wild beast the next minute, making all the negative thinking irrelevant, anyway. I was...so scared. So afraid that I would die out there in the woods, and no one would ever know."

Galgo paused there, more than likely for effect, and Shego couldn't help rolling her eyes. If the woman was waiting for some tears to start rolling, well, she'd be waiting a long time. Even Michelle had long since stopped crying, and was listening attentively, hopefully for the same reason Shego herself was.

"But fate was with me, and I happened upon a section of forest not far from the meteor strike. I almost moved on, but I noticed something. There were...absolutely horrendous numbers of...bugs. Millions by the time I was eventually found, I'd wager. There seemed to be more with every passing day. Well, as I said, I had no idea when I'd next pass something edible, and I was no nature expert. I figured, plenty of animals eat bugs and live through the night. It wasn't as if I could afford to be picky at that point. So, I gritted my teeth and dug in. Let me tell you, it was the worst week of my life. I don't know what was worse: eating the live ones and feeling them squirm on the way down, or killing them first and then attempting to force down the ugly remains. But I came to appreciate that they were the only things keeping me alive, so I got over how they tasted...eventually. It was this appreciation that slowly grew into fascination. I realized these bugs were special. They had completely disrupted the food chain. I was the only predator they had left, and even I respected them. I like to think that we came to an understanding. I ate what I needed to live, and in return, I would do everything in my power to protect them, once I was found."

The idea of eating bugs wasn't new to Shego. She'd stolen in a few countries where the locals weren't shy about that sort of thing. Admittedly, she'd never spent too much time in such places when she could help it. In retrospect, Shego doubted Galgo would approve of the practice becoming widespread: people would only protect the bugs so that they could turn around and eat them, anyway.

"I was found, naturally. And right away, I noticed something...different. The rangers who discovered me, their thoughts...rather, their fears, were an open book to me. One had been afraid that they've stumble upon my dead body on a riverbank somewhere, torn to pieces and covered in flies. Ironically enough, another was worried that someone would find out about a body he'd left in these same woods many years back. For various reasons, both of them disgusted me. I wanted them both to be exposed for what they truly were. To my shock, they were. At the press conference that soon followed, the first ranger resigned from the service, claiming he just couldn't do it anymore. The second, moments later, confessed to accidentally shooting and killing his brother almost twenty years ago, then burying the body in the forest."

Galgo paused again, her black lips twisting into a wicked smile. "That was my power: fear. But it was much more than that. I found that so long as a person had a fear, not only could I reach into their minds and discover what it was, I could force them to live it, as if it were actually happening to them. Fortunately, people are by nature fearful creatures, and I have yet to meet a single person who feared nothing at all. I couldn't exactly make a person my slave...unless their fear was a complete loss of control. It's amazing, really, how common a fear that is. They were practically begging me to use them as I saw fit. How could I refuse?"

Things were starting to slide into place for Shego. Hego had been afraid of something, and Galgo has used him. Kim had been afraid of something, and Galgo had used her. And clearly, Michelle was still afraid of something, as she was still under her mother's control. The key had to be in finding out what they'd each feared. If she could manage to rid Michelle of her fear, Shego had little doubt that her niece would side with her again.

"Controlling regular people was only fun for so long. To keep my promise to my little friends, I needed power. Obviously, I was thinking influence, rather than strength. Luckily, Team Go had both in abundance, and getting the attention of their leader was a simple matter. All I had to do was approach Hego during one of his many public interviews, and he was mine. Oh, he had so MANY delicious fears; I was amazed he even managed to get out of bed every morning. So many of his fears revolved around you, Shego. Did you know how much he feared you, and what you could do to him? To the family? To the team? But as much as he feared you, he and the others needed you. Hego needed someone to be his second, someone who would side with him when Mego questioned his orders. The twins needed someone to look up to. Even Mego needed someone to shut his mouth every now and then. But you had abandoned them, and I felt so very sorry for them. I decided to step in, to become their new and improved Shego, and so much more."

A growl slipped from Shego's lips involuntarily.

"Don't worry, I took GOOD care of them all," Galgo said in what she apparently thought was a soothing tone. I gave Hego the support system he needed by becoming his wife and bearing his child. Michelle was a true blessing. Everyone stopped worry about what Shego might do, and focused their attention on my baby. But the in back of their minds, I knew they still wondered. I knew what I had to do. I had to replace you completely, so that there would never be any question in their minds that the family was complete."

"This was all a setup?" Shego asked abruptly.

"Not all," Galgo replied, shaking her head. "I certainly had no intention of Michelle meeting you until I was ready to destroy you. It's easier to kill a stranger, I think. Especially one your mother doesn't care much for. But you two had to go and get attached to each other. You nearly ruined my plan. I am not without my safety nets, however, and everything is back on schedule. Hego is keeping the team in line, because I am gradually curing his fears. Not all of them, of course, but he also fears losing control, so he is my loyal puppet. Kim Possible responded oh so well to my little suggestion that Michelle was extremely dangerous, and could not possibly be left in the hands of someone as evil as Shego. And my precious little girl, about to become a woman with her first kill, turned out to be very afraid of hurting her dear aunt...fittingly enough, on my command."

Shego's face lost what little color it had left. Her eyes flicked over to Michelle, who was trembling and still staring at the ground, unable to lift her eyes to either woman. If Shego's survival depended on Michelle's ability to feel nothing for her, then they were both doomed.

"Oh, my dear, sweet Michelle," Galgo purred, slipping behind Michelle and hugging her. "I know there is only one thing you fear more than being forced to hurt Shego. But it is time to grow up, and Mommy will guide you into it, as I always have." Galgo's eyes narrowed as she glared down at Shego. "Michelle, I want you to kill Shego. But not with your heat wall. I want you to wrap your hands around her throat, and strangle her to death. Use your barrier if she tries to resist in any way. And do it on my mark."

Michelle slowly turned her head to face her mother. "Mom...I'm begging you...don't make me do this. Please don't. I love Shego. She's been so good to me, and-"

"Do it now," Galgo whispered, not a trace of remorse in her words.

A strangled cry of disbelief escaped Michelle's mouth as she lurched forward, arms still outstretched.

As the heat wall vanished, Shego tried to move, and found herself far weaker than she'd expected. She knew at once that Michelle had somehow been draining her body heat, as well as her plasma. But before she could do anything about it, Michelle was on her, hands reaching for her throat. Shego evaded as best she could, leaning back and trying to catch Michelle off guard with a kick to the face. But Michelle's orange barrier winked into existence around her body an instant before, and Shego's attack slid off of it harmlessly, leaving her pinned to the ground as Michelle's glowing fingers brushed against her neck and then dug in mercilessly.

"Please don't hate me," Michelle whispered, even as her tears fell and evaporated as they hit her barrier. "There's nothing I can do..."

It would've been nice, Shego supposed, if she chose this moment to finally tell her niece that she was loved, that all was forgiven, and that her mother was a heartless witch. But, as she was short on air at the moment, Shego summed it all up sufficiently in one word.

"Michi," she gasped.

Michelle's violet eyes flashed green, and the world around them exploded into a dazzling mix of green and orange fire.

* * *

10:20 PM - Go Tower, Go City

"Rufus," Ron sighed, "we squash bugs GOOD."

The bedroom they currently stood in was a mess of green and black, but not one beetle stirred to prove to proclamation wrong.

Rufus held up his dripping flyswatter, blew on it as if it were a smoking gun, and shuddered when a piece of...something fell off and hit the floor with a very wet smack.

"I think that's a sign that our work here is done," Ron decided.

Rufus had just slipped back into Ron's pocket when the rock on the dresser...shifted slightly.

Then it actually MOVED, to the point where it rolled off of the dresser and onto the floor.

Ron practically flew across the room, kicking the rock into the corner and raising his foot for a good stomp.

The rock came to a stop, revealing the large crack in it...and apparently nothing inside but more of the green goo that made up the beetles' innards..

"Man, bugs are SICK and WRONG!" Ron complained. He backed towards the door, scanning the room for any signs of movement. There was nothing that he could see.

Without warning, pain lanced up Ron's left arm from his elbow, and he looked down to see that a beetle easily bigger than his hand had bitten clean through his shirt with its long, jagged pincers. The shock of seeing a bug so huge, combined with the blood pouring from his arm, left Ron frozen in fear, even as the mega beetle prepared to bite him again.

A cry of outrage sounded as Rufus launched himself from Ron's pocket, sinking his two sharp teeth into the beetle's back with lethal accuracy. There was a morbid fountain of green goo as the giant beetle fell to the floor and tried to scramble away, with the mole rat's teeth still buried firmly in its body. Finally, the beetle shakily threw itself at the wall, managing only to knock out Rufus, but not free itself from his teeth. The beetle slumped to the ground on its side, legs working furiously for a moment before they stilled for good.

Ron swallowed hard, taking a few seconds to collect himself before he could do anything. Then he bent down, carefully freed Rufus's teeth, and tucked his little friend safely into his pocket.

Only when Rufus was secure did Ron proceed to stomp the mega beetle into so much green goo. "HATE bugs," he muttered, barely aware of his bleeding arm as he quickly left the room.

* * *

10:30 PM - Outside Drakken's Lair

Shego groaned as she came to, carefully fingering the bump on the back of her head. Whatever Michelle had done, it had forced her against the ground again, only harder this time.

Michelle.

Shego's head snapped up, her eyes searching the area. Galgo was lying a good distance away, obviously out cold. At her side was a ghost. At least, it seemed like one, until Shego looked closer. There was definitely a humanoid shape, but the person was tiny and childlike, and the body was giving off an unearthly white light.

"Michelle?" Shego whispered with growing certainty as she made it to her feet.

The child turned to stare at her, and even that seemed to take a great amount of effort. "I knocked her out. Surrounded her head with a heat bubble and made her faint."

"And before that?"

"I released too much heat," Michelle confessed. "I wasn't thinking. It had to be enough to restore your powers, because I know you need them. All I know is that...when you called me Michi, I...I wasn't afraid anymore. I knew you'd forgiven me, and nothing else mattered."

Shego drew Michelle into her arms, her hands igniting almost automatically as she shared her warmth with the child. "We need to decide what's going to happen to your mother."

Michelle lowered her head. "I can't kill her, even now. I...I hate her...so much, but...she's my Mom. You can't, because they'd arrest you. But I'm afraid she's never going to change."

Shego knew she would regret her next words, but being around Michelle, goodness was just...contagious. "We could take her back to Go Tower, let my brothers decide her fate."

Michelle looked up, her eyes full of hope. "We?"

Shego sighed and held her tighter. "Yes. We. I'll go back there. For you, this one time. But that's it."

"Thanks," Michelle said softly, her little body seeming to glow a bit brighter.

"Didn't I say I don't like people making plans without asking me first?" Galgo asked sharply from behind them. "I am beyond irked at present. Now...I am quite mad."

"Give it up, lady," Shego demanded, pushing Michelle behind her as she rose to her feet. "The kid's not afraid of hurting or killing me anymore."

"Maybe not," Galgo chuckled. "But I'd bet anything she's still afraid of ME."

"Mom, don't do-!" Michelle cried, but her voice faded as her body dimmed, and a thin mist appeared around her.

"There is one overriding fear Michelle has always had above all others. Until a few minutes ago, no other fear surpassed it. And as you so helpfully pointed out Shego, that fear is gone, which means the one I refer to is top priority once more. You have also made me painfully aware that I can no longer depend on my daughter to obey me." Galgo's eyes narrowed. "She is useless to me now, and I always rid myself of useless things."

"Don't you dare," Shego whispered.

"Stars are quite beautiful, so long as they last," Galgo continued, pointedly ignoring the warning. "They can cease to exist in two main ways. Michelle isn't quite large enough to go out with a bang, but it should be interesting all the same, I think."

"Monster!" Shego screamed. "She's your daughter!"

"Was my daughter, Shego. Now, she is nothing to me. Nothing but darkness."

Michelle's body dimmed even further, her skin gradually being swallowed up by inky blackness. She looked as if her little body was slowly being covered in tar, except her fate would be infinitely worse.

Shego's voice died in her throat, and at loss, she instinctively reached out to help Michelle, somehow.

"Stop."

Shego's arm stiffened and did just that.

"You have fears as well, Shego. Fears of being controlled, how unoriginal. Fears of being caught. Fears of being unable to escape your crimes. Fears...of losing to Kim Possible? Something else I can torture you with later. But for now, I think I'll make you watch Michelle die."

Shego stood there, unable to do anything but what Galgo had ordered.

Michelle was staring at them sadly, and then her body crumbled into black dust, quickly blown away in the cold wind.

"They grow up and die so fast," Galgo sighed softly. "Face me, Shego."

Shego stiffly turned around, staring into Galgo's smiling face.

"It was so...easy in the end. Now that I have you in my power, what to do? Obviously, I'll tell everyone that YOU killed Michelle, scattered her ashes to the wind. Since you seem to have this insecurity about Kim Possible, maybe I should actually have you kill her. That's two deaths on your hands; they'll never let you see the light of day now, and more importantly, I won't let you."

Galgo looked away from Shego, smiling at Kim's still unconscious body. "Maybe I should wake her up first, have you two fight it out for old times' sake. She'll lose, of course, but she doesn't have to know that."

Suddenly, Galgo's head was yanked back roughly, and she found herself staring up into Shego's furious green eyes, which had the start of tears in them.

"For the record? Seems like if your victims have any bigger fears than the ones you've chosen to exploit, your control is lost. And for once in my life, there is something I fear more than any of the things you found poking around in my head."

Galgo didn't have time to probe Shego's mind for this latest fear, and even if she had, she would've found that her last act of cruelty had sealed her fate.

Shego closed her eyes and ignited the hand gripping Galgo's hair in one huge burst. The world had stopped for her, so her ears heard nothing. Yet her face felt the sickening splatter of something warm, and Shego knew the horror was over, for now, and she released the fear she'd buried deep down inside.

"I was afraid of losing Michi," she whispered into the cold, empty night.

* * *

11:03 PM - Outside Drakken's Lair

Waking up to find herself staring into the face of evil was not an uncommon experience for Kim Possible. In fact, it was an all too common experience, and just once, she would've preferred to wake up to a free naco, or a college scholarship, or anything she could get some real use out of, like some new mission gear.

Sadly, it was not to be.

This night, Kim woke up to find Shego's face hovering just over hers.

To her credit, Kim held in her scream.

Shego's face was unlike it had ever been before. The left side of it was covered and dripping in blood and gore, though underneath that, her face seemed to be intact, thankfully. The right side was clean, but entirely expressionless.

"Enjoy your nap, Sleeping Beauty?" Shego asked, her voice lacking that certain something Kim had become accustomed to hearing (probably it was life, or something close to it). "Hope so. Because I've got some issues with you, and I don't want you falling asleep on me. Galgo tried it, and you can see what happened to her."

Shego actually moved aside slightly so Kim could see what had happened to Galgo.

Kim instantly wished that she hadn't. It looked as if Galgo's head had exploded.

Shego moved back into Kim's line of sight. "I couldn't help but remember something Galgo said earlier. Something about you leading her here?"

Kim's eyes widened in fear. "Shego," she whispered. "I didn't mean to, I swear. You have to believe me."

"I believe you, Princess. But, see, here's the thing. I just watched Galgo kill my niece, so you might say I'm looking for someone to blame for that. And, well, since it's just you and me, I'm willing to make a stretch or two. Here's what I've come up with, and stop me if I get anything wrong. Galgo followed you here. You came here to get Michi. Yes, you were in Galgo's control, and since you didn't know what her power was, there was nothing you could've done about it. But, in my mind, what it boils down to is that if you hadn't come here, Michi would still be alive. So, I'm kinda thinking her death is, in a way, your fault. And right now, I'm kinda debating what we should do about that. Any ideas? Not one, huh? I've got one or two myself, fortunately. Mind if I try them out on you?"

"Shego." Kim swallowed hard, afraid to take her eyes from Shego's face, and at the same time wishing it weren't so very close. The sight and smell of Galgo's remains on Shego's face was making her ill. "I'm so sorry about Michelle, but...whatever you're thinking, it won't...bring her back."

"You're right about that, but I'm betting it might make me feel a whole lot better right now. Maybe not tomorrow, but I'm all about the here and now, Kimmie. And right now, I'm thinking I might have to kill you."

Kim gasped as Shego's left hand, still wet with Galgo's blood, flew up and wrapped around her throat, not painfully, but firmly enough to show that Shego was serious.

"I never wanted it to end this way between us, Pumpkin. But, as you can probably tell by now, we don't always get what we want."

"You can't...kill me, Shego," Kim whispered, a hint of pleading in her voice. "It's not you. Michelle wouldn't want you to become a murderer."

"I imagine she also wouldn't want to be dead."

"Shego, I'm sorry!" Kim cried. "I never meant for this to happen! I didn't want her to die!"

"You wouldn't listen. We told you to go away, but you wouldn't listen. Maybe that was Galgo making you stubborn, but I bet a big part of it was you being you. You always have to win, Kimmie. You can't just be satisfied with a draw. You couldn't just leave us alone. Well, this time you lose, and you lose big. No more games. It's over between us."

"Can I...tell you something first?" Kim asked, her eyes shining with tears.

"What?"

"I'd give anything to give Michelle back to you."

The pressure on Kim's throat increased.

"Even your life?" Shego demanded.

Kim nodded as best she could. "Especially that. I wouldn't wish tonight on my worst enemy. And definitely not on you, Shego."

Shego blinked and stared into Kim's eyes. Whatever she saw there, it was enough, because she let go of Kim and sank to ground, looking hopelessly lost.

Kim tried to breathe normally as she stared at Shego. She'd never seen the woman like this, and it scared her more than Galgo ever had. More than anything ever had, for that matter.

Neither of them said a word for several long minutes, or even moved all that much, until they both spotted the Go Jet landing nearby. It had barely come to a stop when several Global Justice vehicles pulled up as well.

Ron was the first one out of the Go Jet, followed closely by Mego and the Wego twins, with Hego coming out last. They all looked pretty beat up, and Ron's left arm had a nasty gash in it that had been hastily bandaged, but plenty of blood had soaked through it since then.

Global Justice operatives began pouring out of their vehicles, and Kim silently slid herself in front of Shego, as she spotted several with guns in their hands. Doctor Director herself emerged seconds later, and her eye met Kim's at once.

Ron had been headed straight for Kim, but after noticing Dr. Director, he slowed to a stop, as did Team Go.

Dr. Director quickly closed the distance between them, stopping just in front of Kim. She surveyed the scene, her gaze pausing on Shego before finally returning to Kim.

"Is she a flight risk?" Dr. Director asked simply.

Kim glanced back at Shego, who hadn't moved the whole time. "No, but-" She stopped, noticing Dr. Director's stern expression.

"Project: Brightstar?"

Kim lowered her head. "Cancelled."

"I see," Dr. Director replied quietly. "I realize it's been a long night for all of you, but there are many things that must be explained before I'm willing to consider this entire matter settled."

"I'll help in any way I can," Kim assured her.

"We'll need to take Shego into custody."

"What about me?" Kim asked at once.

Dr. Director blinked. "Pardon?"

"I'm, um...an accomplice. To murder."

For her part, Dr. Director seemed extremely unconvinced.

"It was through my actions that Project: Brightstar was...cancelled," Kim explained. It was true enough, and she was hoping that Dr. Director would rather just arrest them both than argue the matter in front of her men. Fortunately, Kim's instincts proved right on that.

"Cuff them both," the older woman relented, shaking her head.

Kim got regulation handcuffs, but Shego was put into a heavy-looking set of manacles that obviously neutralized her powers. Even when they were placed into the same van, Shego didn't offer a word of protest.

After a few moments, Ron joined them, also cuffed.

"Sexual harassment," he said with a shrug and a smile.

Kim stared at him in disbelief.

"I told Dr. Director she reminded me of an older, foxier Kim Possible. Right before I pinched her hip."

Kim honestly didn't know whether to hug him or hit him. "Ron...what...her HIP?"

"She moved," Ron muttered defensively. "She's fast, for an older gal."

Kim's good mood faded fast as she looked at Shego, and Ron noticed right away.

"So...did we not win?" he asked quietly.

She didn't even bother answering him. Instead, Kim laid her head on his shoulder, and tried her best not to cry.


	7. Chapter 7

Note: Unlike the other chapters, this one doesn't have any specific times. Honestly, they were a little distracting, and I would've been forced to be more specific with them here, so I just didn't use them.

Chapter 6

Shego was perfectly aware that people like her rarely got happy endings. Still, she was amazed at how much damage the supposed do-gooders were doing her in their attempts to help out.

First, there had been Kim and Ron, who had sworn to testify that Shego had killed Galgo in self-defense. As far as Kim was concerned, that was the honest truth. Neither of them had counted on the prosecuting attorney making them out to be immature vigilantes that created more problems for the justice system than they helped. Kim's own public service record was even compared to Galgo's, and because Galgo had always worked within a team (albeit one that obeyed all of her commands), hers was obviously more impressive, especially since Team Go had made a point of helping rich and powerful people almost exclusively in the past few years.

Then, there was Dr. Drakken. During the final encounter with Galgo, he had actually hid under his desk until it was all over. So, feeling more than a little guilty, he'd turned himself in, and told Global Justice just about everything he knew, in the hopes that it would help Shego's case. It didn't. In fact, Drakken ended up telling them so much, there was precious little information Shego could offer that he hadn't already given up freely. And no one was interested in cutting her a deal, anyway, since more and more people were becoming convinced that Shego had killed not only Galgo in cold blood, but Michelle as well.

Finally, her brothers had sealed Shego's fate. Hego, for whatever reason, disbanded the team. He didn't show up at her trial, which was damning in itself. Mego and the twins were there every single day, but it just didn't carry as much weight as the whole family being there would have.

There was only so much Dr. Director could do. Actually, there was only so much Dr. Director was willing to do. While she was ready to believe nearly anything Kim said in private, she was still convinced that Shego needed to pay, both for her past crimes, and any criminal role she'd played in the two deaths. Despite Kim's insistence that Shego hadn't done anything wrong this time, Dr. Director thought it best to let the justice system do its job. Which was another way of saying she wasn't about to do squat for Shego.

Shego had her day in court. Months in court, actually. By the time she actually got to say anything, everyone had made up their minds. Seeing as how she had so little to lose, Shego told her version of the truth. She explained how she'd always been an outcast, even within her family. She told how she'd become a thief, and how she'd never, until recently, used her powers to kill anyone. She even revealed how happy she'd been when Michelle had walked into her life. And, against her better judgment, she'd ended by saying that no punishment a judge could think up would hurt her worse than Michelle's death had. While she didn't actually say so, Shego didn't really care what happened to her now.

That was probably a good thing, since she was found guilty of all her crimes, real and imagined. The only one that really stung was Michelle's murder. It seemed that Galgo's plan had worked itself out, after all. At some point, Shego stopped insisting that she was innocent of that charge. No one outside of Kim, Ron, Wade, and Team Go even believed that Galgo was evil, so there was little point. Shego got a life sentence for each death, and still another for the totality of her years as a thief. And Shego figured that between comet power and not having to run from the law anymore, she would probably live to serve every year of her sentence.

If there was any satisfaction to be found in any of this for Shego, it was that she still blamed Kim for Michelle's death. It wasn't even that Shego wanted to hate Kim, so much as she needed to blame someone else for the loss of her niece. Besides, as many times as Shego had heard people say she was the killer, she might've started to believe it herself, and she couldn't have lived with something like that on her conscience.

Kim wasn't quite as understanding, or at least she didn't see it that way Shego did. At every turn, she practically begged Shego to forgive her, to the point where it was clearly humiliating. She honestly thought that Shego really hated her, and did everything in her power to change the woman's mind. Finally, Shego got sick of Kim's pleading, and flat out told her that she never wanted to speak to her again. She really only did it because she wanted a break from the begging, but again, Kim took her at her word.

* * *

"Shego."

"Stoppable. Where's Kimmie?"

"You told her not to come back. Or did you forget?"

"Guess I did. What do you want?"

"I want you to call Kim, and tell her that you forgive her."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't."

"Shego, you know she had no control over what happened!"

"I'm aware."

"You know it's not fair to blame Kim for what Galgo did!"

"Of course it isn't. But I'm blaming her, anyway. Otherwise, I'd blame myself."

"Then at least tell Kim that! You don't know what she's been like since you started holding this over her head!"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me, though."

"She's a wreck. We haven't been on a mission in three months. The last time, Kim nearly got killed. And to this day, I don't know if she slipped up, or if she did it on purpose. Do you understand what I'm saying, Shego? I can't trust Kim to take care of herself anymore. You have to let her know that Michelle's death isn't her fault!"

"I don't have to do anything for you two, Stoppable. All I have to do is stay here and rot. That's why you let them put me here, right? Well, Kimmie can just rot her life away, too, for all I care. Nobody she loved died that night. She can do anything, so let's see her get over this on her own."

"I don't even know why I bothered to come here."

"We both know the answer to that. Kimmie made you come, on the off chance that I might forgive her. And she'll keep sending you, no matter how bad I piss you off. So you better get used to our little chats, Stoppable. You're the only one on my approved visitors list."

* * *

Ron understood that on some level, Shego was suffering worse than Kim. She would probably always be haunted by memories of Michelle, and even if she had a choice, she wouldn't have given them up for anything. But Kim was getting worse, and it seemed like only Shego's forgiveness would make her better.

Kim had always been fairly slim, but now the weight just fell off of her. She clearly wasn't eating enough, and she hardly got any sleep at all. She'd been in and out of the hospital, but there was little improvement. Kim just didn't seem to have the will to go on.

Ron had gotten desperate by the fifth month of this. Early one night, he carried Kim up to her room, and asked her to think back to the first day of Pre-K. It took some effort, but Kim remembered, and was asleep in moments.

Ron didn't like tricking Kim like that, but she'd left him no choice. He hadn't told anyone about how the bug bite had never completely healed, or the strange sensations he got from being around people who were constantly afraid. All he knew was that he was the only one that could get Kim to sleep, and he would continue to do so, either until the dark gift left him, or Kim didn't need his help anymore.

* * *

"Don't beg. It's not an attractive quality."

"I'm here to tell you something. Kim is getting married."

"Finally broke her down, huh? Took you long enough."

"I...I never said it was me."

"Heh. Chicken."

"He's good for her. He can take care of her."

"Yeah, and that's why you have to close your eyes when you say that."

"I'm not going to be pulled into another argument with you. Kim wants to know if you'll come."

"Hell, no. Got her a present, though."

"This...what is this?"

"Action figure."

"It's a Britina doll with red hair. And the eyes are X'ed out. I'm not giving her this!"

"Fine. But you be sure to tell Kimmie what happened to MY present for her on her wedding day. And bring me back some cake!"

* * *

Shego's life in prison was harder than she thought it would be. Not because of anything anyone else did, though. In truth, most prisoners were too afraid that Shego was looking to increase her body count, and kept their distance. The few that had dared to confront her found out, quite painfully, that she didn't need plasma to make a grown man bawl like a baby.

No, it was Michelle that made life imprisonment harder. More than ever now, Shego understood the girl's need to be free of Go Tower and all it stood for. There were even days when Shego woke up feeling exceptionally warm, as if a child-sized body had been pressed against her recently. But she knew it was only her imagination, and the only way to make these hauntings stop was to get out of prison.

Shego was in no real hurry, though. Let them think she was tired of running. Let them think she had resigned herself to her fate. Then, when they finally let down their guard, she'd be gone before they were fully aware of what had happened. She even made a promise to herself: if she ever got out of prison, she would never go back. If they came after her, she would run or fight until she couldn't do either. Better to die free than in a cage.

The world moved on without Shego. But the only real news she received came through Ron, and all his news was at least indirectly related to Kim (though he may have been doing that on purpose). All indications pointed to Kim having grown out of the shadow of guilt that Shego had cast on her. Kim had gotten married, popped out a kid, and was apparently doing fine. Ron failed to mention if she was still doing her 'job,' however, which was both suspicious and telling.

Part of Shego wanted Kim to remember, for the rest of her life, the high price of her mistake. Maybe it didn't rule everything she did, but Kim would at least think twice about certain things she wouldn't have otherwise. So long as Michelle's death really meant something to Kim, Shego was willing to forgive her role in it. But, not having spoken to Kim in years, Shego wasn't looking forward to their next conversation. Looking back, she had been pretty hard on Kim, but then she'd wanted the lesson to stick, and it was an important one.

Ron's visits also allowed Shego to see the changes in him. He wore his heart on his sleeve less and less around her, and increasingly walked in with his game face intact. Shego was almost proud of him. Her unwillingness to forgive Kim (for now, anyway) was always a sore point between them, and eventually, Ron stopped asking about it, since he realized it was one of many things Shego regularly considered during her stay. Despite her surroundings, or maybe because of them, Shego remained stubborn about anything she had a strong opinion on.

So when Shego suddenly took Ron off of her approved visitors list (and indeed got rid of the list entirely), there was no point in arguing with her. She gave him a week's notice, and that was the best Ron could've hoped for from her. Shego wouldn't say why she was doing it, only that she was, and that there was nothing he could do about it. Once, Ron would've done just about anything to prove her wrong, including putting in a call to Dr. Director herself. Now, though, he just let it go, and said goodbye.

* * *

Shego didn't have a date in mind, but the plan had been forming since the day she'd walked into the prison. It was then just a matter of picking her moments.

As it turned out, Shego didn't have to pick.

Michelle did it for her.

Or so Shego would've liked to believe. She just assumed that waking up to find a vision of her niece standing before her, smiling, was a sign that it was time to leave. It was different enough from all the other times, somehow, and Shego wasn't about to ignore it.

Sure enough, everything seemed to fall into place. The guards were used to Shego being fairly calm, and didn't expect any trouble. They'd even put a rookie on the shift today, thinking he'd be fine. Shego estimated he would be, so long as he didn't take the loss of a couple of teeth personally.

* * *

"KP, we got trouble."

"We had better, at three o'clock in the morning, Ron. What is it?"

"Shego."

There was a long pause.

"Is she okay? Did something happen to her?"

"Well, I'm guessing she got a bit bored, because she broke out of prison today, in broad daylight. How do you want to handle this?"

"I don't know if we should."

"Sorry, I must have a bad connection. I thought you said-"

"Ron. She's been in prison since...well, since we were in high school. I think that's more than long enough, especially for an innocent woman. Maybe we should just leave her alone. She's suffered enough."

"Kim, if this is about-"

"It isn't. It's about what's right. If she starts any trouble, I'll catch her myself. But, if she just wants to be left alone, like I think she does, then that's what we'll do."

* * *

Shego did not recognize the face in the mirror. But that was a good thing, because anyone looking for her here would feel the same way. Rather than work against her pale skin, Shego had opted to go pale all over. She now looked like a fit, somewhat threatening albino. She'd even reluctantly cut her hair, so it would be easier to dye white.

Luckily, she wasn't the first albino the locals had seen, and nobody made a big deal out of it. Sure, some of the kids whispered and pointed, but all Shego had to do was growl or sneeze loudly (as if contagious) to get rid of them.

She had stumbled upon this town completely by accident. It didn't show up on any map, probably because there were only ever about forty or so people living there at a time. The people were friendly enough, but private. No one thought it odd that she only emerged from her home to get food and supplies, they all just assumed she was sensitive about her condition.

There was really no point in stealing. The town wasn't poor exactly, but it wasn't a place Shego would've targeted for even a minor heist. Aside from that, Shego didn't want or need large amounts of money that would attract attention. Instead, she settled for selling figurines, made from various materials, on the street. It was easy, honest work, and it kept her mind off of...other things. Customers were wary of her at first, but with patience and persistence, she soon became something of a local attraction. She even found herself being commissioned to make certain figurines, and business was good.

It was probably inevitable that she would hit a snag.

This one came in the form of a kid. Skinny, with huge green eyes, and short, brown hair. He didn't say or do anything, really. He wandered by her booth a few times, staring at her display items longingly, but finally wandering off, his finger in his mouth the whole time. If he was trying to become a thief, he at least had the cute thing going for him, but until he actually worked up the nerve to take something, it would just be wasted.

It wasn't so much that Shego was suspicious of people with green eyes, more of a...feeling the kid gave her. A feeling that she needed to leave in a hurry. She closed up shop early and walked home at a brisk pace, wondering where she could go next. For the first time in her life, she was running low on contingency plans. She'd really hoped that this would turn out to be the place she died in, but her chances of that were fading fast.

Any fledgling plans Shego had been forming in her mind died as she turned the final corner on the road home, only to spot a woman standing in front of her house.

A woman whose red hair ran down her back in a long braid, with startling green eyes, and a worried frown on her face as her hands clasped and unclasped anxiously in front of her.

A woman who hadn't seen her yet.

The one overriding instinct remaining in Shego's mind was to run. But even as she considered it, the desire to do so was fading. If Kim had found her here, in the place she'd finally started thinking of as home, there was nowhere left to run. She would never admit it aloud, but she was too old for this crap, and she imagined Kim would say the same thing to herself in a few years.

Her mind made up, Shego started down the street.

Kim was clearly distracted. Their eyes met briefly as Shego passed, but then Kim was looking at the door again, as if trying to figure out what she would say to the woman she suspected was inside.

Shego made it to the other end of the street, paused, and looked back.

Kim was staring at her, hard.

Again the thought of running popped up, but Shego brushed it aside. She watched Kim's eyes widen in realization. She watched as Kim calmly walked towards her, the expected look of satisfaction on her face. She watched as Kim stopped in front of her, stared into her red contact lenses, and pursed her lips.

"Why'd you stop?" Kim asked finally.

"I was starting to feel as old as I look, just looking at you," Shego replied.

Kim almost laughed. "And here I was thinking I feel as old as you look. You don't know how glad I am that you didn't make me chase you."

"I'm not going back, Kim," Shego said. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"I know you didn't, Shego," Kim agreed, her face softening as she reached out to squeeze Shego's arm. "That's not why I'm here."

Shego spotted the wedding band on her finger, but decided it could wait. "I guess the polite thing to do would be to invite you in for coffee."

"I'd rather just talk inside, actually."

"Where's your pet blonde?"

"I asked him not to get involved. This is just between us, isn't it?"

Shego nodded slightly. "Yeah. It is."

* * *

Kim wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. It had been many years since she'd last seen Shego. Perhaps she'd been hoping for a fight. It would've been difficult, since her moves, polished as they were, just weren't delivered with as much speed or strength as she'd once been capable of. In truth, she'd forced herself through an intense workout at a Global Justice training facility for a week before setting out after Shego. Even after that, Kim had known that she wouldn't last long, if Shego were truly desperate.

She was more than a little surprised to find that Shego had aged as well. Maybe not as much or as noticeably as Kim herself, but the signs were there. Overall, Shego just seemed to move slower in everything she did, displaying a patience that Kim had never seen in her before. Nor did Shego remove her disguise, and she'd always taken pride in how she looked.

Shego's home didn't reflect the woman Kim had come to know, either. Almost every space that wasn't reserved for walking or sitting was taken up by one of many figurines. The subjects varied, but Kim noticed a great deal of stars in the mix.

"They're for sale, if you want one," Shego pointed out suddenly.

"Oh...um, maybe later," Kim said quickly.

"I assume you just want to get this over with. Tell me what you want to know."

Kim decided to start with what she assumed was the easiest question. "Why did you break out of prison?"

"Why did I do it at all, or why did I wait to do it?"

"Both."

"The short answer is that I decided I'd paid my debt. When I thought about the fact that I could die in prison, well...I reviewed my options, and it seemed like escaping was the best choice."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Exactly what I've been doing." Shego gestured at the figurines on the table.

"For the rest of your life?" Kim asked in disbelief.

"It's probably not as long as you might think, Kimmie."

"Even if it's not, I can't imagine you doing this...at all, much less for-"

"I've changed," Shego said simply, the look on her face suggesting that Kim should leave it at that.

It took a few moments for Kim to think up her next question. "Why didn't you attack me?"

"I wasn't trying to be found. Why would I give you another reason to keep chasing me?"

"But the last time I saw you, you were angry with me."

Shego rolled her eyes. "Well, I only had years to calm down. If I was going to beat you up now, it'd either be over something recent or something big. Neither of which applies currently."

Kim opened her mouth, then closed it uncertainly. At first, she thought that Shego was simply avoiding the big issue. Then, she realized that it simply wasn't a big issue for Shego anymore. At least, not in the sense that they were going to argue about it.

"So tell me about this family you've made for yourself," Shego urged, almost sounding casual about it.

Kim slid a wallet-sized photo across the table. Shego's only reaction was to grunt softly before she slid it back.

"I knew there was something about that kid in the market. Had your eyes."

Kim wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"He got a name?" Shego asked shortly.

"Benjy," Kim replied at once. "I mean, Benjamin," she corrected herself. "Benjamin Mitchell Reynolds."

Shego seemed to stiffen slightly in her chair.

"I, um...guess that's it," Kim murmured. "You'll stay out of trouble?"

Shego blinked and rolled her eyes. "I'm not five, Princess. But yeah, I'll stay below the radar. Kinda the point."

"Okay." Kim slowly stood up.

"Sit," Shego stated.

Kim didn't move.

Shego sighed loudly. "Please."

Kim sat. "What now?"

"Now, you're going to sit there, and wait, while I make you a proper wedding gift. Since I was, uh, a little grumpy at the time and missed out."

"If by 'a little grumpy' you mean stubborn as an ox and twice as disagreeable, then I agree."

Shego glared at her. "Do you want the present or not?"

"I admit to being a little curious."

"Then I hope you'll express that curiosity with a generous tip," Shego replied as she left the room.

Roughly twenty minutes later, Shego returned, a sparkling figurine in each hand.

"This one's yours," she said, placing the figurine in her left hand on the table. It was of a tiny, crystal woman caught in the act of apparently back flipping. There was even an odd, greenish tint to her that Kim found fascinating.

"It's beautiful," Kim breathed.

Shego either thought she was being kind or didn't care what Kim thought, as she placed the next figurine on the table, keeping her fingers closed around it. "You can have this other one on two conditions. One, you give it to Benny."

"Benjy," Kim corrected, frowning as she reached for the figurine.

"Yeah, him. Two, you have to tell him where his middle name came from."

Kim paused, raising her eyes to Shego's. "He knows."

"Everything?"

"Well, not-"

"Tell him everything, Kimmie. Everything. I want him to know what kind of a person Michi was...and how she died."

"I'll be sure to tell him."

Shego grunted. "Guess I'll have to take your word for it." She removed her hand, revealing a small, crystal star with orange tint radiating from its center.

Kim stared at the star for several seconds. Finally, she cleared her throat. "How much for it?"

Shego looked a little surprised, but recovered quickly. "No charge. But I'm pretty sure not tipping an old albino woman makes for bad karma."

"It must be worth more than I could ever pay," Kim said softly.

Sighing, Shego moved around the table and pulled Kim to her feet, grasping her face firmly. "I'm only going to say this once, so listen good. What happened to Michi...it was...bad, in some ways. But if I hadn't lost her that way, I never would've appreciated her, or what she meant to me, as much. I know throwing it in your face like that was a cheap shot, but you've obviously recovered from it. You never did know when to stay down."

"Was there an apology in there?"

Shego's hands dropped away from Kim's face. "Hell, no."

"Just thought I'd ask."

"Uh huh. Take your stuff and get out." Shego turned away, only to feel Kim's arms slipping around her waist from behind. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know why, but...I get the feeling this is the last time I'll ever see you," Kim murmured. "So if you're thinking about doing something drastic, then-"

"Michi taught me how to make them," Shego said abruptly. "She used to make them for herself, but Galgo always got rid of any she found. So Michi only made them for Mego and the twins. They've got tons hidden at the tower, but...I just make these for her. So she'll always have something to play with, if-"

Kim felt Shego tremble in her arms, and held the older woman tighter.

"God, I'm stupid," Shego whispered. "I keep thinking she's just going to come out of the clouds one day, and tell it me only took her this long to reform and find her way back to me."

"It's not stupid," Kim assured her. "Plenty of mothers think that, even the ones with regular kids. Losing a child is always hard."

"But Michi was my kid," Shego insisted. "Maybe not for long, but she was. I was supposed to take care of her. And all I could do was stand there and watch her die."

"Oh, Shego, don't tell me you've really been blaming yourself all these years? Michelle loved you. I only knew her for ten minutes and I could see that. She would never blame you for what happened to her."

Shego uttered a laugh that was surprisingly close to a sob. "Like I said, she was a kid. I never said she was smart. Michi wouldn't even blame me if it were my fault. She'd just go on thinking I was her favorite person in the world."

Kim could see now that Shego wasn't quite as strong as she had been. Clearly, this had been bothering her ever since that night, no matter how in control she'd seemed today.

"Shego. Would you consider coming with me? To my house?"

"Yeah, I'm sure GJ would never think to look for me there. And I bet your hubby would just love to house a convicted killer."

"He knows you didn't do it. I made sure that everyone who matters to me knew that. You leave GJ to me."

"No. I'm staying here."

"You're not well, Shego. And if you stay here by yourself, then-"

"What?"

"You'll die," Kim said simply. "Especially if you continue to live with all this on your conscience."

"I'm still waiting on your point."

Kim slowly released Shego. "You want to die. Is that it?"

"No. But there's nothing left to live for, either."

"I don't think Michelle would agree."

"Then she can tell me that herself."

Kim reached into her pocket and pulled out a plain-looking watch. She slid it onto Shego's arm as she spoke. "It scans for a pulse every few hours. If it detects nothing after three scans, I'll know about it."

"Funny. For someone who didn't want me to die, you seem pretty prepared for the eventuality," Shego observed.

"I figured I wouldn't be able to change your mind. At least this way, I can make sure nothing happens to Michelle's toys when you're gone."

"Thanks," Shego muttered.

"One more thing," Kim said as she moved to the door with her gifts in hand. "What should I tell Benjy when he asks about the nice lady who gave him this star?"

"Tell him she went looking for her own star," Shego answered dully.

Kim quietly closed the door behind her and sighed. She slipped the figurines into her pockets, her fingers lingering on the tiny, green woman before she slowly started down the street.

The End.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Not a happy ending, but then I never intended that for this story. A pre-reader of commented that it seemed like I created Michelle just for her to die. Well, that's true. It would've been great if she'd lived, but I created her with her death fully formed in my mind. I like to think she was important enough while she lived, and even after she died, for that matter.


End file.
